Let's Keep GST Good & Simple

Post SC ruling, all stakeholders must reaffirm the 'one nation, one tax' principle

- MS Mani

GST was a landmark reform initiative – it removed multiple central and state taxes and enabled corporate India to treat the country as one common market.

But GST’s ease of doing business regime will now likely be revisited following the Supreme Court decision of May 19. We should note that the case – Union of India vs Mohit Minerals Pvt Ltd – was dealing with the levy of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on ocean freight and not per se on central and state legislative powers.

But SC has, inter-alia, mentioned that the GST Council decisions are not binding on the central and state governments. It also mentioned that the Union and states are conferred equal powers to legislate on GST.

Many of us would recollect pre-GST days where all products would either have a price excluding local taxes or have multiple prices applicable to a band of states. This was primarily on account of VAT and other local taxes and municipal levies such as Octroi and Entry Tax, which were divergent across states.