Primacy of Legislature affirmed: GST Council to issue non-binding recommendations guiding tax rates and harmonisation.
The Finance Minister affirmed legislative primacy in taxation and recast the GST Council's role as a consensus-based forum whose decisions are recommendations to guide rates, exemptions and thresholds rather than bind legislatures. He endorsed creating an independent GST Dispute Settlement Authority, urged finalisation of the Constitutional Amendment as an enabling step while parallel work on rates and IT infrastructure continues, and directed the Joint Working Group to address subsumption of local taxes. On CST compensation, he requested accounting for additional State revenue from agreed VAT rate increases and prompt submission of audit-certified claims.

GST phased implementation proposes dual rate transition and aligned exemptions to ease nationwide adoption for stakeholders.
A phased GST introduction is proposed with a transitional dual rate structure accepted by the Centre and alignment of CGST exemptions with State SGST exemptions; a uniform dealer and service exemption threshold is proposed, and the Centre offers a higher compounding threshold for small dealers subject to State agreement. The Centre requests matching SGST rates so combined effective rates fall within a targeted initial band, with planned year by year adjustments to converge CGST and SGST to a single common rate contingent on revenue and compensation outcomes.

State financial autonomy challenged by proposed veto power for Union Finance Minister, prompting rejection of the GST amendment draft.
States opposed a proposed constitutional amendment for GST because it would grant the Union Finance Minister a veto power over state subjects, which states view as infringing state financial autonomy. The Empowered Committee objected to the draft's provisions for the GST Council and the GST Disputes Authority and rejected the bill in its present form, while urging amendments to protect intergovernmental fiscal relations before cooperation on GST implementation.