GST to become a reality soon: FM

The Finance Minister has said that he hoped that the opposition parties will see reason and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is held up in Rajya Sabha, will become a reality soon. Commenting on the issue, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the media, "It (GST) has been supported by most political parties and I am sure others will also see reason and this law will become a reality very soon." "We want to rationalise our direct tax system in order to make it one of the most competitive regimes in the world comparable with what competitive economies elsewhere have," he added. He further said that reform was a continuous process and there was no finishing line for that as it has to go on and on because challenges keep coming up. GST, which will subsume all indirect taxes such as excise duty, service tax and sales tax into one uniform rate, is stalled in the Rajya Sabha as the Congress is pressing for three changes.