PIB Analysis : 29th and 30th July IAS SQUAD

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

Context : 2^nd anniversary of Goods & Services Tax to be celebrated on 1st July 2019

About GST

GST is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market.
GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer.
Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage.
The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.

Taxes at the Centre and State level are subsumed into GST

At the Central level, the following taxes are being subsumed:

At the State level, the following taxes are being subsumed:

Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax,
Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States),
Octroi and Entry tax,
Purchase Tax,
Luxury tax, and
Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling.

Benefits of GST

For business and industry

Easy compliance: A robust and comprehensive IT system would be the foundation of the GST regime in India. Therefore, all tax payer services such as registrations, returns, payments, etc. would be available to the taxpayers online, which would make compliance easy and transparent.
Uniformity of tax rates and structures: GST will ensure that indirect tax rates and structures are common across the country, thereby increasing certainty and ease of doing business. In other words, GST would make doing business in the country tax neutral, irrespective of the choice of place of doing business.
Removal of cascading: A system of seamless tax-credits throughout the value-chain, and across boundaries of States, would ensure that there is minimal cascading of taxes. This would reduce hidden costs of doing business.
Improved competitiveness: Reduction in transaction costs of doing business would eventually lead to an improved competitiveness for the trade and industry.
Gain to manufacturers and exporters: The subsuming of major Central and State taxes in GST, complete and comprehensive set-off of input goods and services and phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST) would reduce the cost of locally manufactured goods and services. This will increase the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in the international market and give boost to Indian exports. The uniformity in tax rates and procedures across the country will also go a long way in reducing the compliance cost.

For Central and State Governments

Simple and easy to administer: Multiple indirect taxes at the Central and State levels are being replaced by GST. Backed with a robust end-to-end IT system, GST would be simpler and easier to administer than all other indirect taxes of the Centre and State levied so far.
Better controls on leakage: GST will result in better tax compliance due to a robust IT infrastructure. Due to the seamless transfer of input tax credit from one stage to another in the chain of value addition, there is an in-built mechanism in the design of GST that would incentivize tax compliance by traders.
Higher revenue efficiency: GST is expected to decrease the cost of collection of tax revenues of the Government, and will therefore, lead to higher revenue efficiency.

For the consumer

Single and transparent tax proportionate to the value of goods and services: Due to multiple indirect taxes being levied by the Centre and State, with incomplete or no input tax credits available at progressive stages of value addition, the cost of most goods and services in the country today are laden with many hidden taxes. Under GST, there would be only one tax from the manufacturer to the consumer, leading to transparency of taxes paid to the final consumer.
Relief in overall tax burden: Because of efficiency gains and prevention of leakages, the overall tax burden on most commodities will come down, which will benefit consumers.

GST Council

As per Article 279A (4), the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws, principles that govern Place of Supply, threshold limits, GST rates including the floor rates with bands, special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities/disasters, special provisions for certain States, etc.
As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, the GST Council will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States. This Council shall consist of the following members namely: –
- Union Finance Minister… Chairperson
- The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance… Member
- The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government

Context : Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Smt. Renuka Singh launched the “Go Tribal Campaign” of Tribes India

About Go Tribal campaign

Tribes India and TRIFED

TRIFED is an organization under Ministry of Tribal Affairs and is engaged in marketing development of tribal products including tribal art and craft under the brand name “TRIBES INDIA”.

Recent Initiative by TRIFED

Launch of “Go Tribals Campaign by Tribes India”under which a number of innovative activities have been planned to be undertaken to promote use of tribal handicrafts, handicrafts and natural products.
Global Launch of “Tribes India” through Amazon Global Selling, under which Tribes India and Amazon Global Marketing launched TRIBES India products globally through Amazon.com. With this collaboration, tribal products shall be available in the US and will help establish export market of tribal products.
Collaboration of Tribes India with Central Silk Board for development, promotion, marketing of tribal silk products and empowerment of tribal reelers and weavers.
TRIFED joins the 150^th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi by introducing Khadi Kurtas and Jackets to its products range in association with “I Am Khadi” foundation.

PIB Analysis : 29th and 30th July