Goods and Services Tax (india)

is an indirect tax which was introduced in India on 1 July 2017 and was applicable throughout India which replaced multiple cascading taxes levied by the central ans state governments. It was introduced as The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act 2017,following the passage of Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill. The GST is governed by a GST Council and its Chairman is the Finance Minister of India. Under GST, goods and Services are taxed at the following rates, 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. There is a special rate of 0.25% on rough precious and semi-precious stones and 3% on gold. In addition a cess of 15% or other rates on top of 28% GST applies on few items like aerated drinks, luxury cars and tobacco products. GST was initially proposed to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a unified tax and was therefore set to dramatically reshape the country's 2 trillion dollar economy. The rate of GST in India is between double to four times that levied in other countries like Singapore.

Launch

The Goods and Services Tax was launched at midnight on 1 July,2017 by the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, and Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The launch was marked by a historic midnight (1 July- 2 July) session of both the houses of parliament convened at the Central Hall of the Parliament . Though the session was attended by high-profile guests from the business and the entertainment industry including Ratan Tata, it was boycotted by the opposition due to the predicted problems that it was bound to lead to for the middle and lower class Indians. It is one of the few midnight sessions that have been held by the parliament- the others being the declaration of India's independence on 15 August,1947 and the silver and golden jubilees of that occasion.

Members of the Congress boycotted the GST launch altogether. They were joined by members of the Trinamool Congress, Communist Parties of India and the DMK. These parties reported that they found virtually no difference between the GST and the existing taxation system, claiming that the government was trying to merely rebrand the current taxation system.

They also argued that the GST would increase existing rates on common daily goods while reducing rates on luxury items, and affect many Indians adversely, especially the middle, lower middle and poorer classes.