Paving the way for its introduction in the Rajya Sabha, the Union cabinet has cleared changes in the GST Constitution amendment bill for full compensation to states for losses in the first five years of roll out of the new indirect tax regime. Importantly, it has also approved removal of 1 per cent additional tax on inter-state supply of goods in view of strong opposition from the Congress and other political parties, who have argued that it will lead to tax burden. On Tuesday, the empowered group of state finance ministers had sought guarantees from the Union government for any revenue loss as a result of the tax reform and agreed on a broad consensus on key provisions of the Constitution amendment bill. The GST regime seeks to subsume over a dozen levies by the Centre and the states and have a uniform rate across the country turning India into a common market. It is expected to boost the GDP by 1-2 per cent. A consensus has, however, been elusive so far with main opposition Congress attaching riders for extending its support. The Congress has been insisting for capping the GST rate at 18 per cent and including it in the Constitution amendment bill, besides scrapping the 1 per cent levy on inter-state supply of goods. The Congress demand of setting the upper limit for the GST is one of the key issues that has held up passage of the bill. But with Centre now agreeing to the Congress demand to drop the 1 per cent levy and states coming on board, the bill is likely to tabled in the upper house in the monsoon session that ends on August 12. On a revenue neutral rate (RNR) for the GST, the states did not favour the idea, but maintained that the incidence of tax needed to be significantly brought down to bring relief for common man.