Get real on GST

Rate reforms are needed to help shore up collections

The Union government has exuded confidence in meeting the target for collections of the goods and services tax (GST) for the current financial year. However, the numbers so far tell a different story. The November collections, which capture taxes paid on transactions during the previous month, were estimated at 976 billion, still short of the monthly target of at least 1 trillion. In the fiscal year so far, only in two months have the GST collections crossed the 1-trillion mark — in April and October. GST collections in the first eight months of 2018-19 now stand at 7.76 trillion, just