Tranformational tax reform

GST has achieved a lot in three years, but there is an unfinished agenda

The many criticisms about the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) must not be allowed to obscure the fact that what was implemented was a truly transformational tax reform. First, let us look at the politico-economic dimension. While the world over, there has been demand for devolution of fiscal responsibility and even political separation — Scotland from the UK, Catalonia from Spain and Quebec from Canada, the GST reforms in India represents a reverse phenomenon where the Centre and the states have voluntarily abjured their “Right to fiscal sovereignty” and opted for pooled sovereignty and joint policymaking through