Touted as the biggest economic reform since Independence, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) caused India to shrug off the shackles of an obsolete tax system and ensure the government’s vision of ‘one country, one tax, one market’, became a reality. And with just over a year, the GST has been widely praised by many who have delighted in the fact that multiple taxation — businessmen paid as many as seven different taxes in some states — is a thing of the past. But as with all big reforms, there are outstanding issues that needed to be addressed, the most prominent and urgent among them being that of sanitary napkins. 

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The government’s decision to put sanitary napkins in the zero per cent tax bracket should bring cheer to all those working to promote menstrual hygiene in rural India. Then, the decision to move refrigerators, washing machines, TV sets and other consumable items, from the 27 to the 18 per cent tax bracket, comes not a moment too soon. With the festive season round the corner, these reduced taxes are likely to boost consumption and help revive an economy hit by an increase in oil prices. Yes, the government is doing its best to ensure the price hike does not affect the common man, but with global oil prices on a high — thanks in large part to the ongoing tension between the US and Iran — this is not an option that can be sustained forever. Hence, kickstarting demand is one of the best options that the government can follow right now. 

There are those who will argue that the granting of tax relief on essential goods are ‘sops’ being provided by the government, just ahead of the elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, followed by the all important national election in 2019. Such critics do not seem to realise that a government in power needs to reflect on the larger picture and cannot be influenced by knee-jerk reactions given by people, through the media and elsewhere. A year is a perfect time to review the effects of this revolutionary tax reform and take a consolidated view. 

If the Opposition wants to criticise the GST and its supposed sops, they need to provide better and more constructive criticism than calling it the ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ as Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been doing. After all, the Monsoon Session of Parliament is on and they have plenty of time to press their point home to the government and the nation at large. There is no doubt that as with all reforms, the pros and cons of what the government can and should do better, will be debated over fiercely for some time to come. 

But the way the common man has readily embraced Prime Minister Modi’s bid to clean up black money through demonetisation, and then a common tax through GST, suggest that these reforms were as wanted and needed as the economic liberalisation reform introduced by the former PM and then Union finance minister Manmohan Singh in the 1991 Budget. The Congress must accept the fact that the government has done what they failed to do in their 10 years of power and that crying over ‘sops’ now is a case of sour grapes.