By delineating his insistence in favour of the Congress’s original demand for a GST rate not exceeding 18 per cent as a reasonable cap, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram sounds more academic than practical (“‘A higher rate will be inflationary”,’ Aug.8). One must not forget the overall good that will come from the new regime to be rolled out in terms of a promotion in growth and trade, reduction of tax-evasion and increase in revenue.
N. Visveswaran,
Chennai
The topic is not very comprehensible for a layperson like me. What I can infer is that the multiple taxes levied by the Centre and States on goods will now be reduced to a uniform single tax. The very concept of service tax is also confusing. For example, restaurants levy this tax over and above the cost of what is served. One hopes that this will end with GST. Ultimately, the common man expects the prices of essential commodities to be stable.
G. Charumathi,
Chennai
