GST-phobia like that of mobile phones in initial days: Arun Jaitley

LUDIANA: Comparing the goods and services tax (GST) to the introduction of mobile phones in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that “people are GST-phobic in the same way they were for mobile phones initially but slowly grew comfortable with them”.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of the new office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ludhiana, Jaitley said: “There were days when mobile phones had just entered India. People were nervous, there were various myths over its usage… But, slowly they realised it is a boon and a mobile phone revolution took place.”

Jaitley also issued a warning for “dishonest taxpayers” and said that “those who are dishonest will have obvious problems with GST because they will be caught soon”. “GST is a boon for the people who pay their taxes honestly. They do not even need to see the faces of some tax officials now. But for the dishonest persons, GST is not a good thing because they will be caught soon if they will try to do tax evasion,” said Jaitley.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley at a function organised by the Satya Bharti Foundation in Ludhiana appealed the industry to spare 2 per cent of their profits for CSR activities and focus on building toilets in schools.