GST and our food

The goods and services tax is designed to bring the country into a common single market

At the stroke of midnight on July 1, 2017, the government launched what is billed as the “biggest tax reform” since India’s Independence. The goods and services tax (GST) is designed to bring the country into a common single market. 

For public health, a big bang impact of the GST is the tax on “sugar-sweetened aerated and flavoured water”, which is now pegged at 40 per cent. These beverages, which include all the colas and such junk drinks, with high sugar and hardly any nutrients, will have an additional 12 per cent cess over the luxury tax slab of 28