Shillong, Aug 14: In order to streamline liquor taxation, the state government has decided to bring VAT on alcohol under the Excise department and approved a Bill to adopt recent GST amendments.
“VAT was being handled by the Taxation department and excise was being handled by the Excise department for alcohol and liquor. So, the decision was made that both these will be merged and it will come under the Excise department,” Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said after a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
He said the change will improve oversight and revenue.
“This will ensure better monitoring, better coordination and, obviously, it will also have an impact on the overall revenue increase for the excise department,” he added.
On GST, the CM said the cabinet cleared a procedural Bill to align state law with changes made at the national level.
“There are regular amendments that are made to the Goods and Services Tax at the council level… which requires all the states to adopt and pass it in their own Act,” Sangma said.
“The recent changes… are going to be updated in the form of a Bill, which we will bring to the House in the autumn session,” he said.
