 "Best of BS Opinion: GST cess as opportunity, the rural push & more")
The performance of the goods and services tax (GST) regime has looked up in the last couple of years, with the pace of the post-pandemic recovery growing faster than India’s overall tax revenues. Among the significant takeaways from this performance is the steady 7 per cent share of compensation cess – collected on such “demerit goods” as alcohol, coal, paan masala -- underlining the need for the GST Council to take an early decision on how this levy should be handled after it is withdrawn from April 2026. Should the cess be discontinued or subsumed in the existing structure? Ashok K Bhattacharya examines the issue and points out that, either way, the economy will benefit if an early decision is taken. Read it here
In other views:
Rama Bijapurkar seeks to reframe the discussion on the Indian middle class. Read it here
The top edit explains why the dismal state of the labour market in rural India could impact long-term growth. Read it here
The second edit argues that new coaching centre guidelines are well-meaning but hard to enforce. Read it here
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