With an aim to ease the existing tax regime in the country, the government on 1 July last year introduced the goods and services tax (GST). Under this ‘one nation one tax’ regime, widespread makeover was observed not only in the country’s business landscape but in lives of common people as well. The government termed GST a game changer for the Indian economy as it abolished various indirect taxes and brought all of them under a single window.
Here are the 5 key benefits of the GST to the common man:
Elimination of multiple taxes: With the GST there is no more cascading of various central and state taxes, thus bringing down the effective taxes.
Decreasing prices: It helped in decreasing prices and helping poor and middle class. A large number of daily usage items are either exempt or in 5 percent slab. Almost 95 percent of items fall in or below 18 percent slab, the government said.
“Though the initial transition phase was full of anxieties amongst the stakeholders, the Government extended full support in ensuring that the transition is less painful. With the extension of several timelines during initial months, relaxation of compliance keeping it limited to only GSTR3B and GSTR1 filings, reduction in prices on account of anti-profiteering rules benefiting the end users, it seems that the people of India have accepted GST on a positive note.” Sanjay Agarwal, Partner, TASS Advisors said.
Increasing transparency: The GST introduction also led to digitisation making adoption of technology necessary for all, thus increasing transparency, helping the common man. From refunds to returns, now everything happens online.
Hitting on corruption: The GST, as per government, has significantly helped in curbing corruption. “Whether an SME, MSME or a large enterprise, there is a prescribed regime with a uniform tax slab that everyone will fall in. There is no scope for evasion or legal wrangling. This makes it really easy when it comes to doing businesses. Not to mention it routes out corruption, eliminates the middleman, is anti-profiteering and beneficial to the economy,” Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, Alankit Limited said.
Increasing productivity: E-way bill ensured easy movement across the state borders, helping in increasing productivity.
“GST was a historic step to provide a simplified, single tax regime in line with the tax framework applicable across the globe. With completion of one year of GST implementation, the pains are behind, and gains have already started showing,” Prasanth Prabhakaran, Senior President and CEO, YES Securities said.