T N Ninan: GST - promise and reality

The shift from "one country, one tax" to four tax rates could dilute possible gains on GDP

The introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) deserves to go down as the most important tax reform done till date. Everyone who has worked on bringing it about deserves a share of the credit. What remains is to ensure its smooth introduction, and to look back on what might have been — if all the compromises made to bring it about had not been required.

The 13th Finance Commission, chaired by Vijay Kelkar, put out that the GST could have a single rate of 12 per cent, to make it revenue-neutral. The logic was that a single-rate tax would