GST Council meet: The Goose Point Theorem for rate rationalisation

The real issue before taxation lies in identifying the Goose Point and the way goes through 'neutral goods'

So, the GST Council meeting, held at the end of five years after its introduction, has concluded with a promise of rate rationalisation. That’s good. Far too many things were not being taxed at all.

That said, and quibbles and teething troubles notwithstanding, the GST in India has been very successful if you measure success as a sustained increase in government revenues. That, in the end, is the only purpose of all tax reform anyway.

There is, of course, a great deal of hypocrisy and nonsense when tax reform is discussed. But as Jean Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of