GST collection in March stood at Rs 1.42 lakh crore, which is a record till date. It is expected to go up further in April. With this, the government can take some steps to give relief to the common man who is suffering from inflation. Know how the government can give relief to the common man.
In March, the GST collection broke all records. With the reduction in the cases of Covid-19 pandemic, economic activities in the country are getting back on track and the GST collection is confirming this.
It stood at Rs 1.42 lakh crore in March, which is a record till date. It is expected to go up further in April. With the record GST collection, the government can take some steps to give relief to the common man struggling with inflation.
Due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the price of crude oil reached $ 139 per barrel at one time. But due to elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh, the price of petrol and diesel remained stable for about four and a half months.
This caused huge losses to the oil marketing companies. To compensate for this, he started increasing the price of petrol and diesel from 22 March. So far, the price of petrol and diesel has increased by Rs 7.20 per liter in 10 installments.
Relief on petrol and diesel
The price of petrol has crossed Rs 115 per liter in many cities of the country, while diesel is also close to Rs 100. Due to the increase in the price of diesel, inflation has started increasing in the country and it may reach its peak in the coming days.
This is the reason why the government can cut the central excise on petrol and diesel to give relief to the common man and control inflation. It is possible for the government to do this after the record collection in GST.
Last year, when the price of petrol and diesel had reached a record in the country, the government cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 respectively, giving Diwali gifts to the people. Experts say that if the Modi government again cuts the excise duty on petrol and diesel, then it will give relief to the common man and will also curb inflation.
Tax records can be reduced on many things
With the GST collection, the government can cut GST on some important things. To give relief to the common man, some essential items can be brought from high slab to low slab or GST can be abolished on them. This includes some FMCG products. At present, there are four slabs in GST namely 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
Many things can be brought in the slabs below 28 per cent. Recently, there was news that in the next meeting of the GST Council, the idea of increasing the slab from five percent to eight percent can be considered. But this is likely to increase inflation and this is the reason why this plan has been put on hold for the time being.
Relief in income tax
If the increase in GST collection continues in the same way, then the government can also give relief to the taxpayers in the coming days. There has been no change in the income tax slab since 2014.
Due to the impact of income and business after the Corona epidemic, common people were hoping that this time they would get relief in income tax in the budget. But Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not give them any relief.
