THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - August 8, 2018 - Topic 2
Pause, refresh: on the
GST Council's focus on MSMEs
The Goods and Services Tax Council met last
Saturday for the second time within a fortnight. However, this time it
refrained from further rate rejigs. While the new indirect tax regime has
expanded India’s tax base and brought more firms into the formal economy,
revenues have slipped somewhat after peaking at Rs.1.03 lakh crore in April
(for taxes accrued in March) this year. The first three months of this
financial year have yielded Rs.94,016 crore, Rs.95,610 crore and Rs.96,483
crore, respectively — this is well short of the Rs.1.lakh crore revenue target
a month for 2018-19.
The steep rate cuts effected on several items in the last
Council meeting were to kick in from July 27, so their full impact on revenue
collections may take more time to unfold. Moody’s Investors Service reckons
that the revenue loss from the most recent tax cuts may be 0.04-0.08% of GDP
annually. This is marginal at best, and could be offset by stronger
consumption-led growth and better tax compliance. But it is in this context of
revenue concerns that the Council’s dedicated focus at its latest meeting on
issues facing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is a creditable move.
Setting up a ministerial group to look into the
problems faced by MSMEs since India moved to the GST regime last July is a
signal that the government is not brushing aside the implementation issues that
still trouble smaller players. Firms with an annual turnover of less than Rs.5
crore constitute 93% of the registered taxpayers under the GST. At its previous
meeting, the Council had decided that such businesses need no longer file
cumbersome returns every month, but only on a quarterly basis. There may be
more room for the ministerial panel to recommend further easing of compliance
for micro firms with turnover far below Rs.5 crore and enhancing the Rs.50,000
threshold for mandatory use of e-way bills to track movement of taxable goods.
A deeper dive to understand why 1.7 million taxpayers had registered under the
GST by December 2017 although their operations were below the taxable limit
could also yield some pointers. The Council meeting has also, wisely, returned
to a consensual approach on decisions. While a few States had reservations
about the rate cuts at the last meeting, this time their concerns on a proposal
to push digital payments by offering a cash-back to consumers using RuPay cards
or the UPI platform have been incorporated. Now, States will volunteer to run a
pilot on these lines and a final decision will be taken after a detailed
system-wide evaluation of such incentives. This indicates the Centre’s keenness
to retain a cooperative approach with States that has generally marked the
Council’s functioning.
Vocabulary
Refrained: stop
oneself from doing something.
Example: She
refrained from comment
Synonyms: abstain
from, desist from, hold back from, stop oneself
from, forbear from
Regime: a
system or planned way of doing things, especially one imposed from above.
Example: Detention
centers with a very tough physical regime
Synonyms: system, arrangement, order, pattern, method, procedure, routine, course
Impact: the
action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.
Example: There
was the sound of a third impact
Synonyms: collision, crash, smash, bump, bang, knock
Compliance: the
action or fact of complying with a wish or command.
Example: They
must secure each other's cooperation or compliance
Implementation: the
process of putting a decision or plan into effect
Example: She
was responsible for the implementation of the plan
Cumbersome: large
or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; unwieldy.
Example: Cumbersome
diving suits
Synonyms: unwieldy, unmanageable, awkward, clumsy, inconvenient
Approach: a
way of dealing with something.
Example: We
need a whole new approach to the job
Synonyms: method, procedure, technique, modus
operandi
Consensual: relating
to or involving consent, especially mutual consent.
Example: He
admitted to having consensual sex with two women
Evaluation: the
making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something
Example: The
evaluation of each method
Synonyms: assessment, appraisal, judgment, gauging, rating, estimation
