Many Kinks in GST to Be Settled

This refers to your article on GST ( The Die Is Cast, July 30). It has logically expressed and argued for the imperatives of GST from consumers’ point of view. Anything new and innovative is always resisted. Once the teething problems of GST are addressed adequately, taxpayers will acquiesce with it. There are obviously many kinks and financial irritants that need to be eased. The warp and weft of GST are being spelt by disputes on multiple tax rates, while the norm is to roll it into a single structure. The composition of GST Council needs a revisit with the inclusion of domain experts. Real estate, alcohol and electricity should also have been brought under its ambit since that could lead to corruption. Keeping petroleum products on Concurrent list of the Centre and States will hurt consumers with possible clash of policies between them on votebank politics. Any tax system will be easily accepted, only when it is simple, but the GST mechanism is still beyond the taxpayers’ ken. Inflationary pressure cannot be ruled out till the progressive tax rates settle down properly without any scope for manipulation upon taxable slabs. B. Rajasekaran, Bangalore