Someone has to pay, as long as some do not.

For a government which is such a passionate believer in digital India that it wants to get rid of cash completely, the Goods and Services Tax law aims to multiply paperwork of every business many times over. "Detailed records are required to be kept not only by suppliers of goods or services (manufacturers or service providers), but also by intermediaries such as warehouse owners, transporters and agents. In addition to the goods sold, they have to also track stocks given as free samples and gifts." How does it operate? Very complicated, but, as the price escalates at each point in the production chain, the previous business claims back the tax it has already paid, the customer paying the entire amount at the final sale. "Even as concepts of manufacture or trading are no longer relevant under GST, the record-keeping requirements continue to be based on these lines." "Therefore, the classification of these activities will continue even in the new regime though not relevant for the concept of supply which underlines GST," said Badri Narayanan. In order to prevent any leakage the law is draconian. "No deletion or overwriting of entries are allowed in registers, accounts and documents maintained for GST purpose. Incorrect entries, whether made erroneously or otherwise need to be sorted out under attestation and the correct entry recorded." Clearly, the law is not aimed at helping people but to squeeze as much tax as possible and to keep everyone obedient under threat of stringent punishment. Tax returns will have to be filed every month and in every state that the business operates, which will multiply accounting costs and increase prices. There will be 4 rates, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, on top of which the government has a free hand to impose additional cess, according to its whim, taking the top rate to 40%. Alcohol, petrol and air travel are outside GST so the tax on them will be eye-watering. The government made Rs 1.99 trillion on extra taxes on fuel in just one year. Politicians get government cars and free air travel and will surely be getting there drinks duty free so taxes are irrelevant for them. Realising that a service tax of 18% will raise the cost of eating out the government is blaming restaurants for including service charge, or tips, in their bills. Which is a lie because taxes amount to over 20% of any bill, while service charge rarely exceeds 10%. For a government which is so obsessive about any corruption that it banned all high denomination notes to force every citizen to prove her innocence it is completely oblivious about corruption among politicians and civil servants, so that it has not found time to pass the Lokpal bill in 3 years. The biggest source of corruption is political funding. The budget changed the rules so that anyone can donate any amount anonymously. So, now we need to provide fingerprints to file tax returns while they get oodles of cash in complete privacy. We must be so stupid.