- Goods and Services Tax is a comprehensive indirect tax which is to be levied on the manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services in India.
- GST eliminates the cascading effect of taxes because it is taxed at every point of business and the input credit is available in the value chain.
- France was the first country to introduce GST system in 1954.
- More than 140 countries have implemented the GST.
- The Genesis of GST occurred during the previous NDA Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government when it set up the Asim Dasgupta committee to design a model for GST.
- The UPA Government took the matter further and announced in 2006 that this tax would be introduced from April 1, 2010. However, so far it was not introduced.
- All the GST bills including Constitution (101st Amendment) Act have been passed now and GST is set to come into force from July 1, 2017.
- GST would replace almost all vital indirect taxes and cesses on Goods & services in the country.
- Among the taxes levied by centre, GST will subsume the following:
- Central Excise Duty & Service Tax,
- Duties of Excise (Medicinal and Toilet Preparations),
- Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance),
- Additional Duties of Excise (Textiles and Textile Products),
- Additional Duties of Customs (commonly known as CVD),
- Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD), and
- Central Surcharges and Cesses.
- Among the state taxes that would be replaced by GST include
- State VAT,
- Central Sales Tax
- Luxury Tax,
- Entry Tax (all forms),
- Entertainment and Amusement Tax (except when levied by the local bodies),
- Taxes on advertisements,
- Purchase Tax,
- Taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling, and
- State Surcharges and Cesses.