We Start, You Begin! (Editor’s Special)

Topic- Dear GST…

Dear GST, 
This morning I sipped my hot morning milk and placed the newspaper before me for some brief reading. Surprisingly I read something apart from Rape, Murder , Scam or Scandal. The front page was flooded with your name was in the headlines and the radio headlines crackled your name. My mind was puzzled by this invasion of yours in my simple, meaningless life. Who were you? Why had you come here? Though you distracted my parents from judging me for everything to discussing you all the time, I still questioned your existence. So, at first, I ignored you like I always do with the important stuff. Then since everyone talked about you I considered it a trend and agreed to everything everyone said about you. But the inner curious monster ate up my head and urged me to know more about you. It felt like I developed an attraction towards you that too quicker than I do for a cute guy. Anyways you’ve given me an insight into our taxation system so thank you very much for that, I consider myself a bit smarter these days. From what I’ve read and is supposedly true you make paying taxes simpler for the buyers, don’t you? All the buyers have to pay just the value addition charge by the last dealer. Now that’s really kind of you to not fool us kind anyway and prevent us from spending extra money. I’ve read a really strong and intelligent IT system is helping you to monitor the payments and transactions etc. So it must be your support system right? Just like my best friends are to me? Dad was saying we earlier had a system wherein each state government charged a separate tax and now that you’ve come there’s a uniformity of the rates. So, all the businessmen and industrialists will get impeccable tax credits hmm now I understand you better. During our school recess, I was eavesdropping and another shock hit me they weren’t bitching about us or their husbands or a fellow teacher. In fact they were discussing you. They said that since the transaction costs are reduced after you’re introduced, the competitiveness of the Indian products in the global market is increasing. I think what they meant was after you, the standard of Indian products will alleviate and we’ll give a tough competition to our foreign competitors. That makes us stronger as a country and makes our economy and its functioning simple to understand. I guess studying about you will help me with my economics terminal exam or at least I hope so. After I came home from school, before even touching my phone I decided to dig more about you. The next moment I sank in the chair before my computer and got your page on the screen. I immersed myself in this read research as though I were to write a thesis on it. I lost track of time and it was evening. I found another fact about you, I feel proud about myself since at least one of my many obsessions is going to help me in a good way. I don’t think fangirling over one direction will ever get me somewhere. Moving on I learnt that you reduce the cost of compliance which encourages the producers to pay you to the government. Also, no more will I hear my father complaining about paying to many taxes and considering it a burden. You’ve relieved the consumers from paying too many taxes. They must be thanking you a lot right. Since you prevent leakages of money and taxes credits and improve efficiency gains. The economy is now open and transparent, people can get tax payer services online. Understanding the economy and taxation system is now easy and simple even for school goers like me. Thank you so much GST. I wish you’ll stay with the government forever to help it’seconomy be an inspiration to other smaller economies. 

-Rtr. Chinmayee Naik

Rotaract Club of Ramnarian Ruia College.