India's GST must eventually evolve to just one or two slabs

The council's logic for multiple slabs may run counter to the philosophy of a good GST

After much deliberation and compromise, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates were announced at the GST Council meeting in Srinagar in May. The multiplicity of tax rates appears daunting, but the very fact that the GST is now almost ready to be rolled out more than ten years after it was originally announced is worth applauding.

GST is slated as the biggest tax reform in the nation’s independent history and is expected to contribute significantly to the growth rate. The increase would emanate from uniformity in tax rates for the same item across the country. State governments