Overview
- The Goods and Services Tax Council has scheduled its first meeting since December for early July ahead of Parliament’s Monsoon Session.
- Ministers are set to debate phasing out the compensation cess by March 2026 and integrating it into existing GST slabs.
- States’ revenue concerns over high-ticket items like automobiles and tobacco have prompted calls to raise the 40 percent GST rate cap.
- A proposed taskforce of state and central officials could steer broader rate rationalisation and simplification of the GST framework.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs officials on June 20 to collect further administrative and industry insights.