From Tea to Tobacco, India Releases New Tax Rates for Goods
- Government, states agree on rates for most substantial items
- National tax to create common market for 1.3 billion people
Employees work inside a warehouse operated by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. near to the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) in Nagpur, India, on April 28, 2017.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Tea will be taxed at 5 percent and chewing tobacco will face a 160 percent levy after India finalized most rates for a new goods and services tax, clearing the way for the biggest shakeup in the nation’s tax system since independence in 1947.
Rates for more than 500 services and 1,200 goods were fixed, or 80 percent to 90 percent of items were slotted into the GST’s five broad rates in meetings Friday and Thursday between the government and state ministers as the country races to meet the July 1 implementation deadline.