GST rates reduced for the sake of vote banks?
- IndiaGlitz, [Sunday,December 23 2018]
As is known, GST Council has delivered good news by reducing rates on several products. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday informed the country that rates on about 33 items have been reduced. The peak 28 percent slab now has only 28 items. Rationalization of rates has been welcomed.
Needless to say, this is being seen as the Narendra Modi government's election-time move. In April-May next year, the NDA government will seek a fresh mandate from the people of India. So, reducing rates was needed to boost consumption and convince the people that the government is sincere about easing taxes.
Reports say that Congress and TMC, among others, tried to sabotage the rate reduction as part of the GST Council. The BJP could tell the public that the opposition parties are playing politics over GST, saying one thing on the street and entirely another in the GST Council.
For now, with the rates coming down, it's good optics all around.