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Abstract
In India, there exist a number of indirect taxes that are either levied by the Central Government or by the state government such as Excise Duty, Custom Duty, Service Tax, Sales tax, Stamp Duty, Octroi and many more. There have been various attempts of reforming the indirect tax structure for making tax system simple, stable and burdensome. In this process of reform we have already implement vat and service tax. For further significant improvement the next logical step towards a comprehensive indirect tax reforms in the country will be to implement Goods and Services Tax (GST). GST is a tax on goods and services with comprehensive manner. It is a multi-tier tax where ultimate burden of tax fall on the consumer of goods or services. It is called as value added tax because at every stage tax is being paid on value addition.
The present research paper is an attempt to study concept of goods and service tax, how it works and its advantages to Indian economy.
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Introduction
Tax policies play an important role on the economy through their impact on both efficiency and equity. A good tax system should keep in view issues of income distribution and, at the same time, also endeavour to generate tax revenues to support government expenditure on public services and infrastructure development.
The introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) would be a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. By amalgamating a large number of Central and State taxes into a single tax, it would mitigate cascading or double taxation in a major way and pave the way for a common national market. From the consumer point of view, the biggest advantage would be in terms of a reduction in the overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated at 25%-30%. Introduction of GST would also make our products competitive in the domestic and international markets.
It will lead to the abolition of taxes such as Octroi, Central Sales Tax, State level Sales Tax, Entry Tax, Stamp duty, Telecom License Fees, Turnover Tax, Tax on Consumption or Sale of Electricity, etc. It will also improve government's fiscal health as the tax collection system would become more transparent, making tax evasion difficult. CAG Mr. Vinod Rai in his inaugural address to the National Conference on GST put forth the concept as "An integrated scheme of taxation that does not discriminate between goods and services and is a part of the proposed tax reforms that centre on evolving an efficient and harmonized consumption tax system in the country."
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Objectives
To understand the concept of goods and service tax
To understand how GST will work in India
To understand the benefits of GST over the current taxation system in India
To understand effect of GST on Indian Economy
Research methodology
The study focuses on extensive study of Secondary data collected from various books, National & international Journals, government reports, publications from various websites which focused on various aspects of Goods and Service tax.
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Understanding Taxation System in India
India is a federal country and both Centre and States have their own rights to collect taxes. Each state is independent in levying and collecting taxes. The taxation powers are defined clearly in the Indian Constitution. Centre collects all the direct taxes (income tax, corporate taxes etc) along with the Indirect taxes like Service Tax, Excise duty and Customs duty. The States collect indirect taxes like VAT on goods, CST and Local Taxes. These revenues states keep with themselves. Earlier instead of VAT, States had sales taxes on various goods. Now states have replaced sales taxes with VAT. Each state has adopted its own structure of VAT with different duties and structure.
In an earlier taxation system, people paid taxes at various levels. There was no system of getting a rebate on the taxes paid previously while paying the inputs. This is also called as cascading effect. Ideally the taxes should be based on value addition and the producer should pay taxes on whatever value he adds to the product. In the absence of such a system, producers ended up paying much higher taxes. Higher taxes are a barrier for business and discourage business activity. The businesses instead spend time trying to save taxes leading to distortions and a parallel economy. A large number of enterprises prefer to stay out of the taxation system and avoid paying taxes. High taxes also lead to lobbying activities where producers of a certain sector ask the government to lower/waiver taxes for their sector. This also leads to multiple taxation rates for multiple products and further increases inefficiency in the system.
Page | 5 A Value Added Taxation system is seen as a way to negate this cascading effect. VAT taxes goods at each stage and on the value addition done by the enterprise.
GST is an extended version of Value Added Tax (VAT) and aims to cover all goods and services. VAT covers mostly goods and GST covers all goods and services. GST is an attempt to get rid of weaknesses in the VAT structure.
With a GST in place, all these indirect taxes should be merged into one tax. Ideally, these taxes will be collected by the Centre which will then be transferred to the States via a rule/formula.
This will require changes in the constitution as Centre can only tax goods at production stage and on Services. The States can only tax sale of goods. Hence, States cannot tax services and Centre cannot tax sales of goods. The States cannot also tax imports. All this needs to be changed with the GST and hence would require amendments in the Indian Constitution. That is the reason why the 115th Constitution Amendment Bill has been introduced
Hence, implementation of GST was always seen as a concern for States as they surrender their powers to tax. This is a very difficult issue and as a result numbers of discussions have followed between the stakeholders.
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Brief history about GST in India
The idea of moving towards the GST was first mooted by the then Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram in his Budget for 2006-07. Initially, it was proposed that GST would be introduced by 1st April, 2010.
The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) which had formulated the design of State VAT was requested to come up with a roadmap and structure for the GST. Joint Working Groups of officials having representation of the States as well as the Centre were set up to examine various aspects of the GST and draw up reports specifically on exemptions and thresholds, taxation of services and taxation of inter-State supplies. Based on discussions within and between it and the Central Government, the EC released its First Discussion Paper (FDP) on the GST in November, 2009. This spells out the features of the proposed GST and has formed the basis for discussion between the Centre and the States
Since then, discussion being held between Central and State Government to consensus on certain conflicting issues. However, till today no final agreement has been made between Central and State Government.
However, Central Government in view of implementing GST from 1st April, 2016 all over India by agreeing all the States by making certain modifications in proposed GST.
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What is GST?
GST is a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services at national level. The GST is expected to replace all the indirect taxes in India. At the centre's level, GST will replace central excise duty, service tax and customs duties. At the state level, the GST will replace State VAT. Integration of goods and services taxation would give India a world class tax system and improve tax collections. It would end the long standing distortions of differential treatments of manufacturing and service sector.
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Why GST?
GST is similar to VAT in terms of the value-added approach. The question that comes to mind is -India already has VAT then why should someone go for GST? Moreover, it seems to be very complicated and a difficult exercise, then what are the reasons? The key problems of current taxation system for Goods and Service in India are as follows:
Taxation at manufacturing:
CENVAT is levied on goods manufactured or produced in India which gives rise to definitional issues as to what constitutes manufacturing, and valuation issues for determining the value on which the tax is to be levied.
Exclusion of Services from state taxation:
Exclusion of Services from state taxation has posed difficulties in taxation of goods supplied as part of a composite works contract involving a supply of both goods and services, and under leasing contracts, which entail a transfer of the right to use goods without any transfer of their ownership.
Tax Cascading:
Oil and gas production and mining, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, real estate construction, and range of services remain outside the ambit of the CENVAT and the service tax levied by the Centre. The exempt sectors are not allowed to claim any credit for the CENVAT or the service tax paid on their inputs. Similarly, under the State VAT, no credits are allowed for the inputs of the exempt sectors, which include the entire service sector, real property sector, agriculture, oil and gas production and mining. Another major contributing
Page | 9 factor to tax cascading is the Central Sales Tax (CST) on inter-state sales, collected by the origin state and for which no credit is allowed by any level of government.
Interstate Sales Tax (CST):
Though it is an important source of revenue for states it is seen as very burdensome by businesses. The companies make goods in one state but on distribution inside the country, end up paying taxes in each state. They are supplying goods within the country and should just be taxed at one place.
Inclusion of Services in VAT system:
Production of goods is because of both physical production and services. But Services are taxed only by Centre and that too is done selectively. The Services need to be taxed at State level and integrated with the Goods.
International Standard:
GST is becoming an international standard and it is important India also has one. There are many factors before international companies while choosing a country for its business and taxation system is one very important factor. With other countries having GST and India not having one, the companies are likely to opt for former ahead of India for locating their businesses. Likewise Indian companies may also prefer to increasingly set their bases in other countries where tax system is more efficient.
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Silent features of GST
The GST system is based on the same concept as VAT. Here, set-off is available in respect of taxes paid in the previous level against the GST charged at the time of sale. The GST model has some aspects which are as follows:
Two Components:
GST will be divided into two components, namely, Central Goods and Service Tax and State Goods and Service Tax. However, the basic features of law such as chargeability, definition of taxable event and taxable person, measure of levy including valuation provisions, basis of classification etc. would be uniform across these statutes as far as practicable.
Merger of various taxes:
GST will lead merger of various taxes levied by Central and State Governments. The taxes that merged into GST are as follow:
Central Taxes State Taxes
Central excise duty
Additional excise duties,
Service tax,
Excise duty under Medicinal & Toiletries Preparation Act
Countervailing duties (on imports in lieu of excise duty)
Additional duty of Customs (levied
Value Added Tax/ Sales tax
Entertainment tax (unless it is levied on local bodies)
Tax on lottery, betting and Gambling
Luxury tax
Entry tax not in lieu of Octroi
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Central Taxes State Taxes
on imports in lieu of value added tax or central sales tax)
as they relate to supply of goods and service
Entry tax in lieu of Octroi (Included in revised bill)
Dual GST:
The Central GST and the State GST would be levied simultaneously on every transaction of supply of goods and services except the exempted goods and services, goods which are outside the purview of GST and the transactions which are below the prescribed threshold limits. Further, both would be levied on the same price or value unlike State VAT which is levied on the value of the goods inclusive of CENVAT. While the location of the supplier and the recipient within the country is immaterial for the purpose of CGST, SGST would be chargeable only when the supplier and the recipient are both located within the State.
Rate:
There will be two tax rates for SGST– lower rate for necessary and basic importance items and a standard rate for all other goods. Further, there will be a special rate for precious metals and a list of exempted items. Rates charged across all states and the central level will be uniform along with the regulations, definitions and classifications. However, as per latest development, it has been agreed to include a floor rate with bands to allow States the freedom to have a high or low rate.
Page | 12 Threshold limit:
Threshold exemption is built into a tax regime to keep small traders out of tax net. This has three-fold objectives:
a) It is difficult to administer small traders and cost of administering of such traders is very high in comparison to the tax paid by them.
b) The compliance cost and compliance effort would be saved for such small traders. c) Small traders get relative advantage over large enterprises on account of lower tax
incidence.
The present threshold prescribed in different State VAT Acts below which VAT is not applicable varies from State to State. The existing threshold of goods under State VAT is Rs. 5 lakhs for a majority of bigger States and a lower threshold for North Eastern States and Special Category States. A uniform State GST threshold across States is desirable and, therefore, the Empowered Committee has recommended that a threshold of gross annual turnover of Rs. 10 lakh both for goods and services for all the States and Union Territories may be adopted with adequate compensation for the States (particularly, the States in North-Eastern Region and Special Category States) where lower threshold had prevailed in the VAT regime. Keeping in view the interest of small traders and small scale industries and to avoid dual control, the States considered that the threshold for Central GST for goods may be kept at Rs.1.5 crore.
Applicability:
GST will be applicable to all Goods and Services sold or provided in India, except from the list of exempted goods which fall outside its purview.
Page | 13 Payment:
GST will be charged and paid separately in case of Central and State level.
No Inter System Tax Input Credit:
The facility of Input Tax Credit at Central level will only be available in respect of Central Goods and Service tax. In other words, the ITC of Central Goods and Service tax shall not be allowed as a set-off against State Goods and Service tax and vice versa.
Inter-state GST:
The Empowered Committee has accepted the recommendations of the Working Group of concerned officials of Central and State Governments for adoption of IGST model for taxation of inter-State transaction of Goods and Services. The scope of IGST Model is that Centre would levy IGST which would be CGST plus SGST on all inter-State transactions of taxable goods and services. The inter-State seller will pay IGST on value addition after adjusting available credit of IGST, CGST, and SGST on his purchases. The Exporting State will transfer to the Centre the credit of SGST used in payment of IGST. The Importing dealer will claim credit of IGST while discharging his output tax liability in his own State. The Centre will transfer to the importing State the credit of IGST used in payment of SGST. The relevant information will also be submitted to the Central Agency which will act as a clearing house mechanism, verify the claims and inform the respective governments to transfer the funds.
Page | 14 The GST will be levied on imports with necessary Constitutional Amendments. Both CGST and SGST will be levied on import of goods and services into the country. The incidence of tax will follow the destination principle and the tax revenue in case of SGST will accrue to the State where the imported goods and services are consumed. Full and complete set-off will be available on the GST paid on import on goods and services.
PAN linked Taxpayer Identification Number:
Each taxpayer would be allotted a PAN linked taxpayer identification number with a total of 13/15 digits. This would bring the GST PAN-linked system in line with the prevailing PAN-based system for Income tax facilitating data exchange and taxpayer compliance. The exact design would be worked out in consultation with the Income-Tax Department.
Need of compensation during implementation of GST:
Despite the sincere attempts being made by the Empowered Committee on the determination of GST rate structure, revenue neutral rates, it is difficult to estimate accurately as to how much the States will gain from service taxes and how much they will lose on account of removal of cascading effect, payment of input tax credit and phasing out of CST. In view of this, it would be essential to provide adequately for compensation for loss that might emerge during the process of implementation of GST for the next five years. This issue may be comprehensively taken care of in the recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission. The payment of this compensation will need to be ensured in terms of special grants to be released to the States duly in every month on the basis of neutrally monitored mechanism.
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How does GST work?
Suppose there is a Paper manufacturer. He purchases raw materials and machinery on which he pays certain percentage of tax.
Particulars Purchase
(In Rs Lakh) Tax Rate (%) Tax (In Rs Lakh)
Raw Material 200 10% 20
Machinery 400 10% 40
Total Input Tax paid 60
Now suppose he produces Papers worth Rs 800 lakh and adds Rs 200 lakh as profit. He sells all the goods to sole distributor in India. The manufacture will have to pay taxes on selling his papers. Now in a traditional system, he would pay the tax on the entire Rs 1000 Lakh and get no input credit. So he pays a total tax of Rs 160 Lakh – Rs 60 Lakh on Input and Rs 100 Lakh on Sales. This is called cascading effect and a producer pays the tax on each economic transaction. The end result is much higher taxes by the producer leading to lack of incentives by the producer.
However with a GST system, the producer gets an input tax credit of Rs 60 Lakh. As he had paid Rs 60 Lakh on the inputs, it gets deducted from the tax bill. On net basis, the Producer pays Rs 100 Lakh of taxes.
Particulars Sale (In Rs Lakh)
Tax Rate (%)
Without GST With GST Tax (In Rs Lakh) Tax (In Rs Lakh) Sales
(Cost 800 + Profit 200) 1000
Total Output Tax 10% 100 100
Less: Input Tax 0 60
Tax Paid 100 40
Total Tax paid (Input
Page | 16 the transport provider for transporting goods from manufacturer to the distributors’ godown. He pays service tax on the same. Hence total value of his goods becomes Rs 1050 Lakh. His input tax payable is Rs 105 Lakh.
Particulars In Rs Lakh Tax Rate (%) Tax (In Rs Lakh)
Goods Purchase 1000 10% 100
Transportation
Charge 50 10% 5
Total Input Tax paid 105
The Distributor sells the papers to the consumers. The same input tax output tax calculation applies here as well. Without a GST system he pays a total of Rs 235 Lakh as taxes. With a GST system he pays Rs 130 Lakh as total taxes, a total saving of Rs 51 lakhs.
Particulars Purchase
(In Rs Lakh) Tax Rate (%)
Without GST With GST Tax (In Rs Lakh) Tax (In Rs Lakh) Sales (Cost 1050+ Profit 250) 1300
Total Output Tax 10% 130 130
Less: Input Tax 0 105
Tax Paid 105 25
Total Tax paid (Input Tax + Output Tax)
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Benefits of GST
The implication of GST assures a single taxation system in the entire country for all goods and services making tax compliance easier and more effective. The belief that trade and industry will benefit from implementation of GST is widely accepted. Because the GST will give more relief to industry, trade and agriculture through a more comprehensive and wider coverage of input tax set off and service tax in subsuming of several Central and State taxes in the GST and phasing out CST. The transparent and complete chain of set-off which will result in widening of tax base and better tax compliance may also lead to lowering of tax burden on an average dealer in industry, trade and agriculture. It will also boost up economic unification of India. The major benefits of implementation of GST as follows:
To Economy:
It will simplify India's tax structure, broaden the tax base, and create a common market across states. This will lead to increased compliance and increase India's tax-to gross domestic product ratio. According to a report by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, GST is expected to increase economic growth by between 0.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent. Exports are expected to increase by between 3.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent, while imports will likely rise 2.4-4.7 per cent.
To Corporate:
It will be beneficial for India Inc. as the average tax burden on companies will fall. Reducing production costs will make exporters more competitive.
To Exporters:
The subsuming of major Central and State taxes in GST, complete and comprehensive setoff of input goods and services and phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST) would reduce
Page | 18 Indian goods and services in the international market and give boost to Indian exports.
To Industry:
Manufacturing sector in India is one of the highly taxed sectors in the world. A complex and high taxation structure has the tendency to render products uncompetitive in the international market or consume large portions of the cost arbitrage available in manufacturing set-ups in low cost economies such as India. GST when enforced would eliminate complexities in the present taxation structure and consequently prevent the loss of nearly 50% of the advantage of lower manufacturing costs that India has over the western nations.
To Centre and State:
Approximately Rs 900 billion a year of profits are predicted by the government with the implementation of GST as it is speculated to bring about raise in employment, promotion of exports and consequently a significant boost in overall economic growth.
To Common Consumer:
With the introduction of GST, all the cascading effects of CENVAT and service tax will be more comprehensively removed with a continuous chain of set-off from the producer’s point to the retailer’s point than what was possible under the prevailing CENVAT and VAT regime. Certain major Central and State taxes will also be subsumed in GST and CST will be phased out. Other things remaining the same, the burden of tax on goods would, in general, fall under GST and that would benefit the consumers.
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Challenges in Implementation of GST
The actual challenge before the Finance Minister is not of drafting a model GST but of its proper implementation and smooth transition from the prevailing system. The challenges which the Government has to face in introducing GST are as follows:
Legislative Challenge:
The Constitution provides for delineation of power to tax between the Centre and States. While the Centre is empowered to tax services and goods upto the production stage, the States have the power to tax sale of goods. The States do not have the powers to levy a tax on supply of services while the Centre does not have power to levy tax on the sale of goods. Thus, the Constitution does not vest express power either in the Central or State Government to levy a tax on the ‘supply of goods and services’. Moreover, the Constitution also does not empower the States to impose tax on imports. Therefore, it is essential to have Constitutional Amendments for empowering the Centre to levy tax on sale of goods and States for levy of service tax and tax on imports and other consequential issues.
Inclusion of Goods and Services:
The first issue major issue of implementation of GST is to the inclusion of taxes within the ambit of GST. The bone of contention relates to inclusion of purchase taxes on food grain, taxes on motor spirit and high-speed diesel (GSD), and octroi or entry tax in lieu thereof. The foodgrain surplus states have been levying the purchase tax, the burden of which is exported to non-residents.
Page | 20 presently the tax is levied at a floor rate of 20% and the states derive about 35% of their sales tax collections from these petroleum products.
Rationalization of GST rate:
Another issue to be decided is the rates of central and state GSTs to be levied. It is expected that the tax rates would be revenue neutral. This implies that in the short term, there would not be any revenue loss or gain, but over time the revenue productivity is expected to increase due to better compliance of the tax and increased productivity of the economy.
Rates charged across all states and the central level will be uniform along with the regulations, definitions and classifications for effective implementation of GST However, due to dispute between Central and State Government, it has been agreed to include a floor rate with bands to allow States the freedom to have a high or low rate.
Rationalization of threshold and exemption limits:
To get the full benefits of GST, it is necessary to rationalize threshold limit and exemption limits. However, there are dispute between Central Government and State Government regarding finalizing of threshold limit. State Governments are in view of to keep the threshold limit at as low as possible to avoid revenue loss to state.
Place of Supply:
One of the main challenges in introducing in GST is defining the place of supply in respect of certain services and intangible properties. In the existing tax regime, place of supply is not a big issue because service is taxed by the Centre and the place of levy does not
Page | 21 affect revenue receipts. In GST, however, the place of supply will have to be clearly defined to avoid disputes among states in case of interstate transactions.
Time of Supply:
Time of supply will explain the point at which tax would be levied invoice date, due date or payment date. Currently, different taxes are levied by the Centre and the states at various stages. These variations will be eliminated in GST.
Rapid increase in Assesses:
The dual GST model will widen the tax net by taxing every economic supply in the distribution network. This will lead to rapid increase in assesses. It will require some of the businesses to restructure their distribution network to reduce additional tax burden on the consumer with a view to be price competitive. Though it will generate revenue in a neutral and transparent way, the Government will have to ensure that the ultimate consumer is not burdened with tax beyond his capacity.
In addition to above Government have to decide regarding
Dispute settlement procedure and machinery
Building IT (Information technology) infrastructure to capture the full benefits of GST
Training of tax administrators and assesses
Protecting and balancing the present and future revenues of the Centre and the States
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Impact of GST on Indian Economy
The studies assessing impact of GST are limited as the design of GST was not clear till the First Discussion Paper. Thirteenth Finance Commission has undertaken a study with NCAER, a Delhi based think-tank on cost-benefit analysis of GST regime in India. The highlights of the report were:
Medium term gains:
GST could to increase India’s GDP somewhere within a range of 0.9% to 1.7%. The comparable dollar value increment is estimated to be between $9.5 billion and $18.6
billion respectively.
Long term gains:
The additional gain in GDP, originating from the GST reform, would be earned during all years in future over and above the growth in GDP which would have been achieved otherwise. It estimates present value of total gain in GDP between $325 billion and $637 billion. This is nearly 30-60% of the size of Indian economy currently!
Export gains:
GST will lower the overall tax inputs in supply chain of goods and services leading to lower prices of Indian goods and services. This will increase the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in the international market and give boost to Indian exports. The uniformity in tax rates and procedures across the country will also go a long way in reducing the compliance cost. These gains are expected to vary between 3.2 % - 6.3% with corresponding absolute value range between $5.4 billion - $10.7 billion, respectively. Imports
Page | 23 are expected to gain somewhere between 2.4 and 4.7% with corresponding absolute values $6.9 billion and $13.6 billion, respectively.
Others:
GST would lead to efficient allocation of factors of production. The overall price level would go down. It is expected that the real returns to the factors of production would go up. NCAER results show gains in real returns to land ranging between 0.42 and 0.82 per cent. Wage rate gains vary between 0.68 and 1.33%. The real returns to capital would gain somewhere between 0.37 and 0.74%. Kelkar adds that GST could help add productive employment of as much as 4 to 5 million. Barring impact on economy, GST could help the consumers as well. The lower taxation will lead to lower prices of goods and services.
However, going by the above international experiences there could be two additional problems.
Inflation:
Most of the international case studies show an inflation spurt in initial months of GST implementation. In main reason for spurt in prices of goods which consumers thought would become expensive after the GST. Much of blame for inflation is accorded to the various regulatory bodies and uncertainty over the new tax regime. The inflation situation stabilizes as implementation gains pace and is understood by consumers and producers. In India’s case inflation could be critical as unlike developed countries, India has far more inefficiencies in supply chain in local markets. The Indian GST reform is far larger in scale compared to above economies of developed countries. These rigid inefficiencies along with higher information asymmetry on probable impact of GST could push inflation higher in initial days
Page | 24 new reform could further test inflation further.
Tax Revenue Shortfall:
RBI in the State Finances Report (2010-11) said the revenue implications of GST are likely to vary across states. The Centre and the States are still discussing various aspects of GST like taxation rates, revenue sharing model between Centre and States etc. As there is still uncertainty over the final blueprint of GST, it is difficult to estimate the impact of GST on state finances. The report points that VAT led to improvement in tax revenue for most states. However, just like VAT there could be some short-falls in revenues in some states over a short term.
The central government has already proposed a Rs 50,000 Cr fund to help the states which suffer from the short-fall. However, a higher shortfall could lead to both Centre and States to borrow more from the markets. This will be critically watched as it has further ramifications on fiscal deficits, interest rates and inflation.
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Conclusion
Tax policies play an important role on the economy through their impact on both efficiency and equity. A good tax system should keep in view issues of income distribution and, at the same time, also endeavour to generate tax revenues to support government expenditure on public services and infrastructure development.GST will give more relief to industry, trade and agriculture through a more comprehensive and wider coverage of input tax set-off and service tax set-off, subsuming of various Central and State taxes in the GST. The transparent and complete chain of set-offs which will result in widening of tax base and better tax compliance may also lead to lowering of tax burden on an average dealer in industry, trade and agriculture. The subsuming of major centre and state taxes would reduce the cost of locally manufactured goods and services. This is likely to increase the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in the international market and to boost Indian exports.
GST is expected to bring many benefits to the Indian economy. Though, all these benefits are based on the assumption that overall taxation structure is less bureaucratic and cumbersome than present. The implementation is going to be crucial so that the promised benefits are realized.
The Government also needs to be weary of inflation spurts in initial implementation phase of GST as pointed by experiences from international economies. Ideally, one should be first easing all these state-wide inefficiencies and then implement GST. However given the challenges in India, the policymakers are hoping GST will help ease these inefficiencies and eliminate them over a period of time.
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References
The Empowered Committee Of State Finance Ministers (2009, November 10), First
Discussion Paper On Goods and Services Tax In India
http://www.cbec.gov.in/deptt_offcr/gst-status-18032014.pdf http://www.empcom.gov.in/content/188_1_PhasingoutofCST.aspx
Abisheka Rastogi (2009), Illustrated Guide to Goods and Services Tax (GST)
http://www.taxmanagementindia.com/wnew/detail_rss_feed.asp?ID=1226 www.goodsandservicetax.com
M.Govinda Rao (2014), GST in India: Challenges and prospects, extracted from http://www.livemint.com /Opinion/ FtsFwtT50bMOc9HjHlJOLJ/ GST-in-India-Challenges-and-prospects.html
Sherry (2007), Goods & Service Tax (GST) in India - A move towards tax reforms, Service Tax Today
Verma A(2008), Goods and Service Tax: eagerly awaited in India, Service Tax Today
CA Rajat Mohan (2013, August 13), Goods and Services Tax (GST) - A step forward, extracted from http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-13/news/ 41374977_1_servicestax-state-gst-goods-and-services/2 http://www.india-briefing.com/news/indian-gst-deal-paves-tax-reforms-8938.html/#sthash. JMziiv64.dpuf http://gstindia.com/news.php http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gst-rollout-will-signal-that-india-is-open-to-business-montek/article5505058.ece
