A meeting of the traders' representatives was held under the chairmanship of Bajrang Dass Garg, state president of the Haryana Pradesh Vyapar Mandal and former chairman of Haryana Confed, at Rohtak on Thursday.
The traders expressed their resentment over constant increase in GST rates by the Central Government at the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Garg said the Central Government has put a massive burden on the common man by imposing 28 per cent GST on essential goods.
"Ever since our country attained Independence, there was no tax on cloth, sugar, milk and curd, but the current government has increased inflation by imposing 5 per cent GST on these items," said Garg.
He pointed out that while implementing the GST regime, the Central Government had stated that there would be a uniform tax in the country, but it has imposed four tax-slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
"Even the market fee on foodgrains, which was supposed to be abolished after the implementation of the GST regime by the Central Government has not been abolished, which is unacceptable," said the traders' leader.
He cited that the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, had stated that there was a need to reduce tax rates in GST to two slabs.
"The Central Government had also talked about reducing taxes by integrating GST, but it has not given any concession in GST in the Union Budget, which has caused great resentment among the traders and the people in general," he said.
Garg remarked that the traders, industrialists and the general public had high hopes that the tax rates in GST would be reduced in the Union Budget.
"However, the Central Government imposed fresh taxes on goods on which there was no tax and imposed 18 and 28 per cent GST on goods on which there was 5 per cent VAT. Due to this, there is a lot of resentment," he stated.
The traders who participated in the meeting lamented that the cost of food items and other essential goods had almost doubled within a short period of time.
