A GST WORLD VIEW

India has been taking baby steps to meet its target of rolling out goods & services tax (GST) on April 1, 2016, the biggest tax reform in decades. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST has been holding meetings across the country to iron out issues and concerns that states have against a country-wide consumption tax. But perhaps the most contentious issue that still needs to be resolved among the different stake holders is the GST rate. Earlier, a sub-group of the Empowered Committee had suggested a revenue neutral rate of 27 per cent, the tax rate at which states would not suffer any loss of current revenue. However, a look at the GST rate across countries show that India — if itagrees to that rate — would be among the highestGST taxed jurisdictions in the world.