By Karanveer Singh
At midnight, on 1st July, 2017, GST was brought to the country as this new reform which was going to revolutionize the country laying its comparison to Nehru’s ‘Tryst with destiny’.
How a major tax reform on one hand and gaining independence on another hand can even be compared on the same pedestal is beyond understanding; where one is making the citizen anxious and uncertain of the regime, the other acknowledged the struggle and achievement of freedom.
However, considering that the present Government has a flare for showmanship and exaggeration beyond understanding to its credit, it was accepted by the nation silently as a part of the due showmanship itself.
It’s been almost a week since the nation woke up to this new tax regime and there is a lower amount of favourability for it in the air, where most of it comes from the way NDA’s GST has been designed and the lack of infrastructure to accommodate it which hits many financially.
Let us, thus, analyse the tax reform and what impact it has made post entering this dawn of new era in its most real and pragmatic sense.
Also read: The Simplest Guide To Tax Slabs Of GST: A Short Video
The GST has impacted more on the necessary goods than the luxury goods. Luxury goods which were previously taxed heavily were now to be seen becoming significantly cheaper, thanks to the tax cap levied under the GST.
Many of the necessary goods, however, were now being taxed where previously there was no tax or were lower than the one levied under the new regime. This does raise the question on what the GST caters to.
The small businesses seem to be the most affected.
Since the days of demonetisation, the small businesses had been having a hard time to recover from the downfall but the GST regime has made them skeptical of their chances to influence big businesses.
The need to accommodate new mechanism for the GST, the market has taken a blow in the last week.
The rise in the cost of production would trouble the entrepreneurs more as there will be less of profit for them and more in the collection of the government revenue.
Due to the anti – profiteering authority provision in the CGST Act, 2017, the current profits could also not be increasing. However, it remains to be seen how effectively the anti-profiteering provision implements in reality.
There is an anticipation of a significant impact on the Indian courts as they are expected to be flooded with litigation by the lawyers and legal experts.
Due to the introduction of the new system, the disputes are expected to increase and in the recent trends, the government is seen to be losing more cases than winning.
While the GST is a much-welcomed move but has brought in an uncertain and unstable vibe to the economy.
Though the GDP of the country is almost certain to improve, as commented by the analysts, the arguments of it being of no help to the mass unemployment and certainly not being a game changer which is hurting the nation at its peak today are more than alarming.
Economists and experts have agreed that it’d take a significant time, i.e. around 5 to 10 years, for the system to settle down but it was much needed to be done, it was just a question of this time or that time.
(Feature image from Times of India)
More on ED Times:
http://edtimes.in/2017/07/indian-govt-might-soon-make-bitcoin-legal-in-india/
