Page 17 - NIS English 01-15 July,2023

6 Years of GST Cover Story

With one nation-one tax,
the same tax rates are ap-

plicable throughout the
country. 17 major taxes and
13 cesses are now included
3. Tax will not be levied on tax
in this. Transparency and
In the tax system that was in force before GST, not only accountability have been
were many different taxes levied on one commodity, but
ensured in the tax system.
in many cases tax was also levied on tax. This happened
Simple registration and
because many commodities fell into two or more catego-
ries. Now this problem is over because now GST has to be speedy refunds have sim-
paid by the consumer only. In between, if someone has to plified the arrangements.
pay GST, then his money gets adjusted from the Input Tax
Credit system.
4. Fully Online System

In the system of GST, the information on all the deals has
to be kept updated online. The receipt for every transac-
tion is retained by both the supplier and the receiver. Both
can avail of input tax credits with the help of their respec-
tive receipts. If the deals don't match, the online glitch will
get caught. Due to the responsibility of depositing GST
at every stage, the businessman will not break the chain
of tax payments. Because no businessman would like to
damage his credit.
5. No arbitrariness on the tax rate

In the earlier tax system, the state governments used to
levy VAT on the goods sold of their own free will. Now the
whole of India has become one market. Interstate blocks
were removed. After the abolition of the entry tax, entry
into the cities became easy. Different states were charging
35% to 110% tax in the name of entertainment. There was a
huge reduction in this. The GST Council has been formed
for any change in the rate of GST. GST has proved to be a milestone
in the economic scenario of In-
dia. It has reduced the number
of taxes, compliance burdens,
There were 17 different types of taxes in total. As a and overall tax burdens on the
result, any business owner would have to deal with common man while significantly
17 inspectors, 17 returns, and 17 assessments. increasing transparency, compli-
Furthermore, the tax rates were extremely high. The ance, and tax collection.
standard VAT and central excise rates were 14.5%
and 12.5%, respectively. Not only that, but CST was
levied on these, and the tax rate eventually reached - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

New India Samachar July 1-15, 2023 15