Bad idea to include petroleum in GST, says former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian
The inclusion of petroleum in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would be a bad idea, as it is not politically advisable to ask states to give up more sovereignty, said Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor of India, at an event organised by Centre for Social and Economic Progress on July 4.
“There is not going to be GST rate rationalisation; we are going backwards,” he added.
Subramanian highlighted that cess should be included in the regular rate structure.
“The default option is to absorb cess in the regular rate structure so that it is available for redistribution,” he pointed out.
Cess, at present, yields around 0.5 percent of the GDP.
