Assam took the lead in country’s progress by unanimously passing the path-breaking Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill on August 12, 2016.

 
Assam became the first state in the country to pass Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on August 12, 2016. The State Assembly unanimously passed the Bill following its passage by both Houses of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha had unanimously cleared amendments made to Bill by Rajya Sabha on August 8. The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues. The government has set a deadline of April, 2017 for its rollout.
GST: A game-changer for India
The 122nd Amendment to the Constitution will go down in India's political-economic history as a watershed, as it is about to give the country the most progressive tax reforms till date in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which should make life easier for the trade and industry and more importantly reduce the cost of goods and services for the consumer, without compromising on the revenues of either the Centre or the States.
What is GST?
It is a plethora indirect taxes which contribute to bulk of revenues of the states and just about half of the tax kitty of about Rs 16 lakh crore of the Central Government. While direct taxes like the personal income tax concern a small fraction of the population, the indirect taxes affect every Indian. Since the indirect taxes are on consumption, rich and poor, both have to pay the same amount.
Presently, the Constitution gives mandate to the Centre and the States to levy indirect taxes ranging from excise duty, customs, and service tax — Valued Added Tax (VAT) or sales tax, entertainment tax, octroi, entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax and different surcharges. Both the Centre and the States have their own official machineries to collect these taxes. But for Central excise and VAT, most of the taxes get calculated on a base which itself has been subjected to taxation at some or the other stage of manufacturing value chain. So, it is a tax on tax making goods and services rather expensive for the ultimate consumer while making life hard for the trade and industry. The most visible example of inefficiencies of the system can be seen at inter-state borders with long queues of trucks being subjected to different kind of tax inspection and payment of octroi and entry tax, blocking traffic on the highways for hours together.
With the roll out of the GST, expected from April 1, 2017, all these taxes would be subsumed into a single tax for the consumer. The Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The input tax credit of CGST would be available for discharging the CGST liability on the output at each stage. Similarly, the credit of SGST paid on inputs would be allowed for paying the SGST on output. Services and goods would be subjected to taxes only on value addition at each stage, thus bringing down the overall tax burden for the consumers.
With inputs from PIB