Impacts of GST on the Indian Market/ understanding GST

The inclusion of Goods and Services Tax or GST has led to the simplification of taxation and business but has impacted the living cost of a layman. The government has shown its support for the businesses; however, the amount of tax people will pay has increased in various segments. Nevertheless, introduction of GST has brought uniformity in taxes all across the nation.

All the products and services under GST are divided into five segments. The description of the tax slab is as follows:

0% Slab covers some of the necessities such as fresh meat, egg, milk, and services for instance hotels below 1000 tariff attracts no tax.

5% of goods and services such as skimmed milk powder etc falls under this category. Transport services including railways and airways are categorized in 5 % slab.

Items such as cell phones, apparels, packed dry fruits etc, comes in the category of 12% slab; some of the services such as state-run lotteries, are slammed with 12% of GST.

There is a long list of the article in the slab of 18% covering from softwares, home appliances steel products and services such as liquor, telecom services etc.

28% of tax is the highest tax implied to any goods and services. Some of the items falling in these categories are chocolates, pan masala etc and the services such as private run lotteries and tariff of 5 star hotels.

With the application of new tax system it is easier for the government to control over the turnover and track business activities but again at the cost of common people. It is reasonable to have a common tax system to benefit the public and government.

Dated: 01-Jul-2017