“The GST regime seeks to break the barriers that currently exist between states and make movement of goods between different states easier,” said Bhargava. Among services, GST on economy-class air travel is lower at 5%, compared with the effective pre-GST service tax rate of close to 6%. The GST rate on telecom services, for instance, has accordingly gone up to 18% from the earlier 15% service tax rate. Fuels are temporarily kept out of GST, while liquor has been constitutionally kept out of the new tax regime. The GST Council will consider inclusion of hydrocarbons in the new tax regime once state revenues stabilize.

Source: Mint June 29, 2017 19:30 UTC