"It Is Cruel To Raise Taxes": Congress Leader Slams Centre On New GST Hike
NDTV
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a series of tweets responded to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's defence of hike in GST rates on food items.
The Congress on Wednesday said it is "cruel" on the part of the government to raise taxes on some essential items of consumption as it will lead to a further rise in inflation. Our 10 point answer to FM's laboured defence of increase in GST rates on food items
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh slammed Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her defence of the hike in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates on food items, alleging the Narendra Modi government is penalising aspiration and a desire to buy more hygienically packed goods.
He said "branded and labelled" is very different from "pre-packaged and labelled", as the former refers only to products of big companies priced higher and bought by middle and upper-middle classes, while the latter affects small businesses whose products are bought by the lower middle class the poor.
"Above all is the timing. It is cruel to raise tax rates when CPI (consumer price index) inflation is over 7 per cent, WPI (wholesale price index) inflation is over 15 per cent, unemployment is high, the rupee is depreciating, the current account deficit is widening and inflation is expected to rise worldwide," Mr Ramesh said in a series of tweets.
