Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the goods and services tax (GST) wasn’t just one of India’s biggest economic reforms but a social reform that was set to transform the country by increasing tax compliance and dramatically reducing the burden on the poor.
“One nation, one tax—this dream is becoming a reality,” Modi said on Friday at the launch event in Parliament, minutes before GST was ceremonially rung in at midnight.
GST is not the achievement of any one party or government, the prime minister said, opting to be generous with his compliments despite the Opposition boycotting the event.
He said that GST was a “Good and Simple Tax” to the drumming of desks, addressing luminaries that included President Pranab Mukherjee, Ratan Tata and others, adding that it marked the march of the nation in a new direction.
“GST is a tax for a new India, a digital India,” he said. It doesn’t just promote ease of doing business but also shows the way forward as a “way of doing business”.
India is putting in place a modern taxation system, Modi said, calling it a model of cooperative federalism that saw the Centre and states coming together. This showed what Team India could achieve when it worked in concert, he said. GST will also put an end to tax terrorism and the inspector raj by making sure that all gray areas are eliminated, the prime minister said.
He also said there was no need to fear the technology that forms the backbone of GST. Any high-school student will be able to understand the system, he said. The new regime will also greatly boost India’s attraction as an investment destination and act as a catalyst for exports, he said. States that are keen on development will be able to take the greatest advantage of reforms like GST.
“The new India will create one tax, one market and for one nation,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said earlier in his address. The new levy will turn India into a common market by scrapping barriers between states.
“The new India will create one tax, one market and for one nation,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said earlier in his address. The new levy will turn India into a common market by scrapping barriers between states.
This will improve efficiency, lowering costs and boosting economic growth. As many as 17 taxes and 23 cesses will be subsumed in GST, which also aligns India with global tax regimes.
