Goods and Service Tax (GST) is a comprehensive tax levy on the manufacture, sale, and consumption of goods and services at a national level under which no distinction is made between goods and services for levying of the tax.
Some of the following taxes will be bound together by the GST:
- Central Excise Duty
- Commercial Tax
- Value Added Tax (VAT)
- Food Tax
- Central Sales Tax (CST)
- Octroi
- Entertainment Tax
- Entry Tax
- Purchase Tax
- Luxury Tax
- Advertisement Tax
A brief History of GST implementation
The Goods and Service Tax or GST which is what it is popularly called the world over was first introduced in France in the year 1954. It was consequently after France that countries like Japan, South Korea, the UK, and Australia implemented the GST law.
Most the countries have a unified GST system but India is going to adopt the Dual GST model, the first was Canada which adopt the dual GST model. It can be easily understood with the help of the following diagram.
The most crucial aspect of this tax regime is the rate of GST that prevails on the various categories of products.
Under GST, goods and services will be taxed at the following rates,
- 0%,
- 5%,
- 12%,
- 18%,
- 28%.
GST rates of some countries are given below
| Country | Rate of GST |
| Australia | 10% |
| France | 19.6% |
| Canada | 5% |
| Germany | 19% |
| Japan | 5% |
| Singapore | 7% |
| New Zealand | 15% |
To be continue.....
