Bihar becomes 2nd state to ratify GST

New Delhi: Bihar State Legislature on Tuesday ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a special one-day session.

With this, it has become the first non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled state to ratify the GST. 

The GST Bill needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council, which will then decide the new tax rate and other issues. The government intends to reach the golden number of 15 states in the coming month.

Last week, Assam became the first state to ratify the Bill.

As reported earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had called Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week and offered to have the Bill passed on August 16.

The state's Assembly session ended on August 4, necessitating a special session for ratifying the Bill. Part of the reason behind this urgency is that the state's bureaucracy believes that GST will net Bihar Rs 8,000 crore as additional revenue annually. 

The proposal for the GST, India's biggest ever tax reform, was cleared by the Rajya Sabha on August 3.

On August 9, the Lok Sabha unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.