GST Challenges Still Remain For One Nation One Tax

Compliance of a new Indirect tax system continues to stutter and sputter in India. As it enters the second year of operation, people are still looking for clarity and ease of filing returns. The government is, however, confident of fetching higher revenue and more taxpayers under its net, says M Rajendran.

- M Rajendran

India’s goods and services tax (GST) is an outcome of a successful functioning federal democracy. It is representative of every Indian, each political party and states. Three successive governments were involved in it - the NDA conceived it in 2000, the UPA conceptualised it in 2006, and NDA implemented it in 2017.

Over the last several years, all state governments have communicated the people’s voice through various committees. And in the last 12 months, all state governments have contributed to its evolution by sitting in the high-powered GST Council meetings. 

Chaired by the Union Finance Minister, the GST Council also has the Union State Minister of Revenue or Finance and Ministers In-Charge of Finance or Taxation of the States.

One year of GST is not just about the collection of taxes only, which was ₹7.41 lakh crore between August 2017 and March 2018 or more than ₹1 lakh crore collections in April 2018 alone. Rather, it is about setting up a massive process and systems in place that has brought sweeping changes in the budget of the individual, family and institutions.

To begin with, GST had 17 years of gestation, during which successive governments had an opportunity to educate and prepare the stakeholders for a smooth transition from a multiple tax structure to an indirect tax regime on July 1, 2017. Yet, the government seems to have fallen behind in its successful execution.

From day one, there has been massive confusion and apprehensions over how GST will work, some of which prevails till date. The government has categorised GST in five major slabs – 0, 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.