Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the GST as by far "the biggest economic reform in country after 70 years". Here is Gautam Kapil in conversation with economy expert Dr. A.C.Vaid. Listen to the audio, in Punjabi, by clicking the link above.
By removing the tax barriers across all the Indian states, GST has made a solitary regular market across the country. The fact is that the prevailing interstate duty system was fairly broken - now, it is hoped that GST will guarantee free stream of merchandise across all states.
Basically, GST subsumes various state and central taxes, like excise duty, VAT, central sales tax, service tax, entry tax, octroi duty, entertainment tax etc. The annual turnover limit for full exemption from GST has been raised to Rs 20 lakh for small entrepreneurs. But if you are supplying goods or services on an inter-state basis, then you will be subject to GST irrespective of the size of your turnover.
Punjab-based economic expert Dr. A.C. Vaid has some concerns about the new tax regime. He says, "People will have to file 37 returns every year to comply withe the GST requirements, and this exercise will also require a huge amount of IT work in the back-end for compliance".
Dr. Vaid said, "There are five tax slabs involved - 0 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent 18 per cent and 28 per cent. First of all, the variable slabs can be quite confusing to implement, but more importantly, when you compare this with countries like Australia, Canada or Singapore, which already have a GST, you'll find that these countries have only one or two tax rates - and a much lower rate than the 28% peak in India".
More articles and interviews from SBS Punjabi
Despite demonetisation, India remains world’s fastest growing major economy
