Finally, wisdom has dawned on the central government. On September 3, 2025, the government rationalized and reduced the GST rates on a wide range of goods and services. The tax structure is now closer to a good and simple tax that several political parties, businesspersons, institutions and individuals (including me) had advocated in the last eight years. When the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill was debated in Parliament in August 2016, I spoke in the Rajya Sabha. Here are excerpts:

“I am glad that the Finance Minister has acknowledged that it was the UPA government which first officially announced the government’s intention to bring about the GST. On 28 February, 2005 it was announced in the Lok Sabha in the course of the budget speech.

“Sir, there are four major issues…

“I now come to the most important part of the Bill…This is about the rate of tax. I will presently read portions from the chief economic advisor’s report… please remember we are dealing with an indirect tax. An indirect tax, by definition, is a regressive tax. Any indirect tax falls equally on the rich and poor… The chief economic advisor’s report says: ‘In high income countries, the average GST rate is 16.8%. In emerging market economies like India,........

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