Landmark indirect tax reform, GST, stabilises after a rocky beginning
As the Indian electorate goes to vote to choose candidates for the 18th Lok Sabha, the ruling NDA government will be showcasing the roll-out and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as one of its significant achievements.
This was a herculean task, not just because all the States and Union Territories had to be convinced to give up their powers to set tax rates on various goods, but also because of the sheer size of the indirect tax-payer base which had to be migrated to the new system.
A unified system of indirect taxes, covering both goods and services was initially mooted by the Kelkar task force on indirect taxes in 2000. But it took several years, many meetings of several parliamentary committees and state finance ministers, a constitutional amendment and passage of GST bills in all the States and Union Territories before it came into force.
