Much ink has been spilt over explaining the new goods and services tax regime and what it means for businesses. Even after a glitzy launch last evening, social media remained largely clueless.
Twitter, as always, became the war zone for supporters and detractors to battle it out.
While multiple state and centre levied taxes are subsumed under different GST tax slabs, many cesses still remain, belying the promise of “one nation, one tax”, some critics pointed out. Given that the launch was planned in a midnight ceremony at the central hall of Parliament, it was no surprise that Nehru’s “tryst with destiny” speech got channelled.
And the fun began before the ceremony started.
There were also those who had braced themselves for the inevitable.
And they were not disappointed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have called it the Good and Simple Tax at the launch ceremony, but this much was clear: it is anything but simple.
While Modi talked about freedom from “tax terrorism”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called upon the opposition to “display broad shoulders and own up to the decision”. The Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left parties decided to stay away from the ceremony, but other opposition parties including Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party broke ranks and attended. Many chose to hedge their bets.
On the first day of India’s new indirect tax regime which is supposed to make taxation easier and less cumbersome for business, social media was scrambling to understand the fine print. Here’s a selection of tweets following the midnight launch.
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