The most awaited reform of the year, GST is all likely to be rolled out on July 1 by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is all prepped up to usher in the GST wave across the country.
The focus of GST, however, is to eliminate the cascading effect of taxes, and hence, it comes like a breather for the Indian citizens who are heartily welcoming the reformatory tax regime.
GST, as we know is a super consummation of all indirect taxes like Excise, VAT and service tax.
GST benefits to consumers
Since time unknown, we have been paying enormous amounts of money at the time of consumption of goods. The amount of tax we pay at the consumption point is one part of the total tax we pay. The first leg of taxation already occurs as the product is transported out of the factory. This engenders cascading effect (tax on tax) and therefore increases the price of the product.
After GST: We will pay tax at the point of consumption, before which there will be no tax levy anywhere. In other words, no tax will be levied from the point the good comes out of the factory to the point of sale. The rate of tax which will be levied at the final point will include the state as well as centre’s taxes.
Additionally, consumers will save the extra tax paid on goods which move across different state boundaries.
State’s progress on GST
While Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kerala are most likely to pass their laws within the next couple of days. Jammu & Kashmir, however, is seen as the major hassle in the process of GST implementation.
At a recent meeting, the rates of GST were finalised for various products and services, thereby arousing many speculations about the imminent increase or decrease on product prices.
The finance minister Arun Jaitley said that there is no scope of delaying GST implementation rate. There is no luxury of time to defer the GST implementation any further from July 1, Jaitley said at the GST meeting.
