In the run-up to the 56th Council meeting on September 3 and 4, a group of eight non-BJP-ruled States — Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal — drafted a note proposing that a cess be levied on sin and luxury goods over and above the proposed 40% GST rates. 

This was to protect the State’s revenues. They estimated that without the cess, the revenue losses from the Centre’s proposed rationalisation (then), would “drastically” hamper their expenditure on development. 

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