Traders’ association to protest against GST.

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Traders' Association will conduct a protest against the goods and services tax system on Tuesday. The association will also make a representation to State finance minister D Jayakumar, asking him to place their demands to the GST council, secretary of the association in Coimbatore KP Kumaran said.

"We have been told by the officials of the Central government that any representation regarding GST has to be made to the State finance ministers, who will place our requests to the GST council," he said.

The association feels that only if the requests are made in the initial days of the GST regime, will they be able to get them fulfilled. "We hope our demands are heard in the first three-four months," said Kumaran.

The association wants the revenue cap for tax being upped from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore. "There are many traders who will get affected because of this. The GST council should consider this," said one of the district vice-presidents, T Soundararaj. Tamil Nadu had exempted 589 grocery items from tax until GST was implemented, he said.

"Under GST, nearly 500 of these 589 products are being taxed. The tax ranges from 5-28%. This has impacted the traders as well as the common man," said Soundararaj. "We are also creating awareness among the public about the new tax rates on the products under GST," he said.

The association has prepared a 10-point memorandum that will be handed over to the State government to be placed before the GST council. "If our demands are not heard, we will go on a day-long strike on August 8," Soundararaj further said.