Resetting the GST paradigm

The GST Council should consider moving goods and services to lower and fewer rates, to make the GST simpler and easier

The roll-out of the countrywide goods and services tax (GST) from July 2017 was expected to favour the consuming states more than those with heavy concentration of manufacturing and mining enterprises. The premise of such thinking was that since the GST was a destination-based tax, states that consume more would have a larger share in the collection of the state goods and services tax (SGST), compared to the predominantly manufacturing or mining states.

However, tax revenue numbers of 17 states, which have so far presented their annual budgets for the current financial year, tell a slightly different story. These numbers,