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Battling inflation & high fuel prices, 7 in 10 Indians against hike in GST rates, survey finds

LocalCircles study got over 34,000 responses from 319 districts. 71% of those surveyed were against GST being raised for household items such as shampoos, hair oil, toothpaste etc.

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New Delhi: Over seven in 10 citizens are against a hike in the Good and Services Tax (GST) from 5 to 7-8 per cent and from 18 to 20 per cent, a survey has found.

Conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles, the study received over 34,000 responses from citizens in 319 districts of India.

The findings said: “Given the high inflation and 7 in 10 households in the country facing a squeeze, any change in the 5% rate structure to 7-8% will have a direct impact on household budgets and hence majority of the household consumers are explicitly against such an increase.”

Seventy one per cent of those surveyed were also against raising the GST of household items such as shampoos, hair oil, toothpaste and the like.

While gauging public opinion on raising GST slabs on gambling, cryptocurrency and online gaming, the survey found 79 per cent in favour of rates being 28 per cent or higher for online gaming, casinos and horse-racing.

At present, the GST rate paid by these sectors is 18 per cent.

Incidentally, the tax council led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has agreed to hiking the rate but the final approval is pending.

The GST council is also considering a similar 28 per cent tax on cryptocurrencies. This is in tandem with the survey’s findings that 60 per cent citizens want the GST rate on cryptocurrencies to be 28 per cent or higher.

Last July, a LocalCircles survey had found that two out of three consumers in India wanted to see changes in the current GST rate structure. Of those surveyed, 55 per cent citizens strongly agreed to merging GST rates of 12 per cent and 18 per cent to 15 per cent.

But given the inflation and rising fuel prices, people are now opposed to hikes in GST slabs, the survey found.


Also read: Modi government’s most significant tax reform is receiving backlash from states


 

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