The much-awaited Goods & Services Bill was passed in the Upper House of the Parliament unanimously. The GST Bill aims to replace the complex web of indirect taxes in the country with a single GST at a single rate across states.
The GST is a comprehensive tax system levied on goods and services at a national level. This system will collect the taxes at the consumption-level, where the consumers buy the goods and services from a retailer or a service provider. It will replace all the different kinds of indirect taxes with one single tax system. About 150 countries in the world already have GST in place.
The tax system in India is very complex right now and it makes it difficult for various businesses to comply with a cumulative tax structure. If GST can reduce the operating cost of these businesses, it will lead to lower taxes to be paid by the consumer at the end-level.
GST will change what we pay for most goods and services, since it will be applicable on nearly everything we consume. Currently, only alcohol and petroleum products have been kept out of the purview of the GST. Apart from that, the new GST rate which will be decided in the upcoming months, by the GST Council, will decide what we pay, going ahead.
GST is expected to bring down the cost of logistics significantly, even making inter-state trade smoother because of a uniform tax rate. This will facilitate faster movement of goods across the country and help bring down costs for e-commerce companies.
The State Government has refused to implement GST in Jammu & Kashmir. It has constituted a high level committee to study its implications for the state and we hope the committee will take an early decision in this regard soon.
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