Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Jul 20: The Commerce Department of Milagres College, Kallianpur organised a seminar and an interactive programme on 'Goods and Service Tax' at the audio-visual hall on campus, on Wednesday, July 19.

The principal of the college Dr Vincent Alva said, "Students should have the vision to achieve something in life. They should grow as independent individuals. They should get knowledge from their teachers by staying back at college for additional study hours. Productivity is more important than only studying, and it will help contribute to the college."

Associate professor of Economics, Dr Norbert Lobo, presenting a paper on 'Goods and Service Tax' said, "There is still uncertainty in the law and jurisdiction about the tax. Industrialists are spending their time in clarifying the business-related aspects because of this uncertainty. For the first time, everything comes under one tax system. It is not one tax, but it is a unified tax. It allows a set off of taxes paid earlier in the value chain. GST is a reformed, refined and extended value added tax."

He further said, "GST is needed to avoid double taxation. It helps run a business efficiently, avoid cascading effects and reduce interface in the different departments. It is a tax which simplifies and unifies the system. It also helps lessen the cost of revenue collection. India is following a dual GST model just like Brazil. Karnataka is the only state, which started the early migration from the previous tax system to GST.

The impact of GST is that it is simple and easy to administer, has better control on leakages through transparency, increases efficiency in revenue collection, broadens the tax base. In its totality, good things are in store for India. There will be only white money transaction," opined Norbert.

"The system will increase opportunity for commerce graduates through self-employment. Although service sector becomes transparent and a bit expensive for consumers, the automobile and other services become available at affordable rates. Prices for goods and services temporarily will go up. The result of GST will be high growth in just 2-3 years.

"There are challenges after implementation of GST. The Government of India has failed in the implementation and had not taken the matter seriously. They should have educated people working in service sectors like businesspeople, bankers, economic institutions and students before the implementation. GST may lead to an increase in tax compliance among business. There is a fear of high tax rates among the public. People should be aware if the slabs while buying composite products. There are still discussions on inter-states service charges which differs from place to place."

The HOD of commerce department, Herald Monnis, introduced the resource persons to the gathering.

Josna, representative of the commerce section, compered the programme.

The Commerce students and lecturers from Milagres, PPC have participated in the seminar. Share market personnel and the public also were present at the informative seminar on GST.

Followed by the seminar, an interaction session was held.