My argument is that the GST will decimate the economy at the lower level very badly. It will help the organised sector and the better-off industry but at the lower level it will be a huge problem and that is why the title of my book is, Ground Scorching Tax. This GST has been levelled in a variety of ways as ‘One Nation One Tax’, ‘Biggest Tax Reform’ and the ‘New Freedom’ which are all hyperbole. It is also said that France was the first country to start GST in 1954 and 160 countries today have GST. But that is no reason why we should have GST because there are very different kinds of economy. France does not have unorganised sectors and does not have to deal with them but we have to deal with the unorganised sectors and except for six countries others have partial GST or partial VAT, said Professor Arun Kumar in his introductory remark after the release of his book at Press Club of India in the national capital on March 15.
Prof. Kumar, a renowned economist, said, “In the first year of its implementation we had more than 400 changes and in the last 20 months more than 550 changes. It was not a well-formulated Tax. GST is not only ill-planned but has also structural problems; it is a very complex tax to implement.
This book is analytical rather than descriptive where I have looked into the macro perspective. What I have found is that none of the things happened what the government had claimed in support of GST. When it is a difficult tax, difficult for the economy to deal with it then why should we have GST, asked the author.
Kumar also argued that GST, in its current form, will adversely impact the unorganised sector. The organised sector will expand but the unorganised sector will contract and eventually lose out; therefore, inequalities will increase. They said the cascading effect will go away but that is not happening. Dr Kumar, while suggesting some measures, said in his book he has proposed a simplified GST which will be levied at the last point because this is supposed to be the last point tax.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it was ego that led to the implementation of GST and was executed in a haste simply because the Prime Minister wanted to have his “tryst with midnight speech.” We all had to be awake not to joy and glory like in 1947, but to harassment, said Singhvi. According to him, there could have been a methodology of a pilot or six-month trial run for GST, which would have led to nitty-gritty details that could have inspired to defer or recast it.
Pavan Varma, a JD(U) leader, argued there was political consensus on the requirement of substantial tax reform but stressed that the implementation of GST could have had been better.
Mr Harivansh Singh, journalist and Dy. Chairperson Rajya Sabha and Prof Kavita Rao, NIPFP, expert Indirect Taxes, also shared their views and concern on GST. Mr TK Arun, Editor Opinion, Economic Times moderated the panel discussion while the vote of thanks was delivered by Ash Narain Roy.