The Big GST Hole
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has made a grim observation in its latest report on indirect taxes: "The growth of indirect taxes slowed to 5.80 per cent in 2017/18 compared to a growth of 21.33 per cent in 2016/17." Without mincing words, it laid the blame on the goods and services tax (GST). "Post implementation of GST, the Centre's revenue from goods and services (excluding Central excise on petroleum and tobacco) registered a decline of 10 per cent in 2017/18, compared to the revenue from the subsumed taxes in 2016/17."
The reports talk about 2017/18. Two monsoons later, things should have improved and systems stabilised, but that has not happened. So much so that in 2018/19, the Union government had to revise its GST collection target by Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 7.43 lakh crore to Rs 6.43 lakh crore. That the target for 2019/20 is Rs 6.63 lakh crore, just Rs 20,000 crore more than the last year's revised target, is the most significant admission by
