Embarrassment of riches? Govt halts monthly GST releases as high collections ‘creating resentment’
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led government appears to be facing a problem of plenty when it comes to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). GST collections have been so robust over the past year or so that it has prompted the Ministry of Finance to discontinue issuing monthly press releases of the data.
The reason? The high collections were breeding resentment among the public, who felt the government was collecting too much tax.
Therefore, the Ministry of Finance decided to do away with the official press release — which also contains the state-wise breakup of GST collections — and instead only disclose the gross figures, two senior officials in the ministry told ThePrint.
This July, for the first time since the rollout of GST in July 2017 — excluding the first few lockdown-affected months in 2020 — the Ministry of Finance did not issue an official press release regarding the collections and breakup of revenue under GST.
