NEW DELHI: The Goods and Services (GST) 2.0 is set to be a “game changer” subsequently leading to a single tax rate, news agency PTI reported citing government sources on Saturday. It further slammed the Congress party’s “hypocrisy” for claiming credit for the reforms saying it “was not even present in the Parliament when landmark GST law was passed in 2017”.Congress leaders have contended that the Centre was only now moving on a reform they had been advocating for years. Citing Rahul Gandhi’s 2018 posts and videos calling for GST changes and a cap at 18%, the party argued that PM Modi’s announcement merely confirmed its long-standing criticism of the existing structure.Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address promised a Diwali gift for the citizens in the form of GST reforms and lower tax burden.”This Diwali, I am going to make it a double Diwali for you… Over the past eight years, we have undertaken a major reform in GST… We are bringing next-generation GST reforms. This will reduce the tax burden across the country,” he said.Following this, the Centre rolled out a draft blueprint for GST 2.0, proposing two primary slabs, 5% for essential items and 18% for most other goods, in an effort to simplify the system and ease compliance for both citizens and businesses. The overhaul plan, set to be reviewed by a group of state finance ministers on Thursday, suggested scrapping the existing 12% and 28% rates, phasing out the compensation cess before the March deadline, and imposing a 40% levy on sin goods.The current GST framework has five main slabs, nil, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, with additional rates of 0.25% and 3% applied to precious metals. At present, roughly 21% of all goods fall under the 5% bracket.
