GST Council Meeting

Why in the News?

Recently, the Union Finance Minister chaired the 47th meeting of the GST Council, in Chandigarh.

The 101 st Constitutional Amendment Act 2016 created the mechanism for levying a common nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST)
The adoption of GST was made possible by States giving almost all their powers to impose local-level indirect taxes and agreeing to let the prevailing multiplicity of imposts be subsumed into the GST
In the framework of GST, States would receive the SGST (State GST) component of the GST, and a share of the IGST (integrated GST)

It is a Constitutional Body (Article 279A) for making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Services Tax
It is considered as a federal body where both the centre and the states get due representation
Composition:
- As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, the GST Council which will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States, shall consist of the following members:
  - Union Finance Minister – Chairperson
  - The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance – Member
  - The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government – Members
Function:
- The GST Council makes recommendations to the Union and the states on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws.
- It also decides on various rate slabs of GST.
Voting:
- As per The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016, in case of a voting, every decision of the GST Council has to be taken by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present
- The vote of the central government has a weightage of one-third of the total votes cast, and the votes of all the state governments taken together have a weightage of two-thirds of the total votes cast in that meeting