GST slabs may be reduced to three to simplify tax system: Sanyal
Kolkata, Aug 4: Principal Economic advisor to the Finance Ministry Sanjeev Sanyal on Saturday said Goods and Services Tax (GST) slabs may be brought down to three along with the exemption category in order to further simplify the country's tax regime.
"The lower rate will be five per cent, the middle bracket of 12 and 18 per cent can be combined to a central rate of roundabout 15 per cent and we might have a top rate of 25 percent," he said.
"The central rate of 15 per cent will be applied for the bulk of goods. We are looking to have a simple tax rate with round figures and most of the goods with the same rate," he said.
Currently there are four GST slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, plus the exempted category which attracts zero per cent GST.
Sanyal said the centre would consider further simplifying the direct tax collection system and reduce the rates if the tax revenues continue to do well.
"As the tax system gets simplified, more and more people will be paying their taxes. The tax collection has significantly gone up since the introduction of GST and now a lot of people are paying direct taxes," he said.
So if the direct tax revenues continue to do well, the centre may further simplify the direct tax system, lower the rates and would ultimately move towards the corporate tax rate of 25 percent," said Sanyal.
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World No. 1 Chakravarthy achieves career-best rating in ICC T20I bowler rankings
Dubai (PTI): India spinner Varun Chakravarthy on Wednesday consolidated his position at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Bowler Rankings, reaching a career-best rating following a stellar show in the ongoing T20 series against South Africa.
The 34-year-old Chakravarthy earned a new best rating of 818 points on the back of his third consecutive two-wicket haul in five-game home series.
The right-armer has six wickets across the first three matches of the series, with his spell of 2/11 from four economical overs in the most recent contest in Dharamsala proving pivotal in India's clinical seven-wicket triumph.
Chakravarthy (818 rating points) now holds a 119-point advantage over his closest rival in New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy (699) in second-place, while also moveing inside the top 10 for the best rating of all-time for T20I bowlers.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh also improved four places to 16th overall on the rankings for T20I bowlers on the back of his Player of the Match heroics against the Proteas in the third game.
For South Africa, Marco Jansen (up 14 spots to 25th), Lungi Ngidi (up 11 rungs to 44th) and Ottneil Baartman also improved, reaching 68th from outside the top 100.
Among T20I batters, India now boast two players inside the top five on the rankings, with Tilak Varma gaining two spots to move to fourth overall after a trio of decent innings against South Africa.
Teammate Abhishek Sharma maintains a decent buffer at the top, while South Africa duo Aiden Markram (up eight places to 29th) and Quinton de Kock (up 14 spots to 43rd) made good ground following some decent recent efforts.
Pakistan's Saim Ayub has a narrow lead at the top of the rankings for T20I all-rounders despite not playing any international matches across the last week, with India's Shivam Dube the big mover on this list as he improves two places to 16th.
