One Year of GST: Arun Jaitley explains why Rahul Gandhi's single-slab idea wrong

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has defended the current form of GST, saying Rahul Gandhi's idea of single slab GST is flawed. The minister said that once the collections go up, there might be scope to merge some of the mid-category tax slabs. However, he said a single-slab system will not work for India. A single slab GST function only in those countries where the population has a similar and a higher level of paying capacity, therefore the idea of Rahul Gandhi is flawed, Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post. 
 
The minister said  Rahul Gandhi is fascinated by the Singapore model. He said population profile of Singapore and India is very different, and the Singapore model will not work in India. 
 
"Since GST is a regressive tax, the poor have to be given a substantial relief. Thus most food items - agricultural products and the aam aadmi (common man) used products have to be tax exempt. Some others have to be taxed at a nominal rate. The others could be taxed higher," the minister said. 
 
Jaitley said more items from the 28 percent category can come down once the revenue from GST goes up. 

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The minister said the government worked out a formula to ensure that "petroleum products would be included in the GST, IANS reported. "The UPA kept petroleum products permanently outside GST. We brought them back into the Constitution as levyable to GST and can gradually impose the GST when the GST Council so decides."