{"id":66897,"date":"2025-02-14T15:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/piceapp.com\/blogs\/?p=66897"},"modified":"2025-02-14T15:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:09:55","slug":"why-is-gst-a-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/piceapp.com\/blogs\/why-is-gst-a-game-changer\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is GST a Game Changer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
GST is one of the biggest tax reforms in the Indian economy. It has simplified taxation in India by applying a single tax on the supply chain.<\/a> While the idea of GST has a long history, its practical implementation took a long time. In 2016, the Constitutional Amendment Act was passed, and on 1 July 2017, it finally came into force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But why is GST a game-changer<\/strong>? From states’ revenue collection to the benefits for the MSMEs, we will cover all the key aspects of GST’s boons in this comprehensive blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The performance of a tax system is judged by tax buoyancy.\u00a0It shows the ratio of growth in tax revenue <\/a>to the annual growth rate of GDP. A buoyancy of 1 means that the tax revenues are rising at the same rate as the GDP while a value of over 1 means that tax revenues are increasing at a higher rate than the GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As per analysis, buoyancy over 5 years minimises the impact of short-term fluctuations. From 2018-19 to 2022-23, the average growth rate of gross GST revenues was 12.3%, compared to an average nominal GDP growth rate of 9.8%. This results in a tax buoyancy of 1.25, which is excellent for any tax system, particularly for a relatively new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the initial 20 months of its implementation, important rate cuts were provided to impart stability to the new system. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic created several macroeconomic and social problems. <\/a>Yet, the tax buoyancy is an impressive 1.25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be compared with the 5 years from 2012 to 2017. During this time, the buoyancy of the taxes subsumed in the GST system was 0.9988. Over the preceding 2 years of their analysis, GST collections were growing faster than prices and GDP. It proves that GST has performed well and shown stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When GST was introduced, there were apprehensions about how it might impact the tax collection by the states. That\u2019s why the Centre agreed that it would compensate states if they suffer any losses less than 14% year-on-year growth compared to revenues from subsumed taxes<\/a>. The base year was to be 2015-16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The figure of 14% did not have an economic or empirical origin. It was simply a number that both the Centre and States agreed upon to start the GST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 4 years from 2012 to 2016, States\u2019 revenue from taxes subsumed in GST had a growth rate of 8.3%. During the same period, the GDP growth rate was 11.5%. This amounted to a tax buoyancy of 0.72, which is significantly less than 1. Therefore, the States\u2019 revenue from taxes subsumed under GST was growing much slower than the GDP before GST was introduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This can be compared with States\u2019 SGST revenues, including compensation, between 2018 and 2023. At this time, the tax buoyancy was 1.22, amounting to total revenues of \u20b937.7 trillion. In this figure, post-settlement revenues<\/a> stood at over \u20b929.2 trillion, and compensation at Rs. 8.5 trillion. Thus, even if compensation is not considered, SGST tax buoyancy was 1.15. It was clearly an improvement over the pre-GST buoyancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If GST had not been implemented, the tax buoyancy of 0.72 along with the GDP growth rate of 9.8% over the post-GST 5-year period would have led to 7.1% growth in State\u2019s revenue. It is almost 50% less than the 14% the Centre and the States agreed upon. It would have resulted in aggregate revenues of \u20b927.9 trillion for the States. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGST and Tax Buoyancy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How GST Impacted States\u2019 Revenue Collection?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n