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Goods and Service Tax or GST as it is known is all set to be a game changer for the Indian economy. The Finance Minister in his budget speech of Budget 2015 has announced time and again that the tax will be introduced on 1 April, 2016. In India, the tradition of taxation has been in force from ancient times. It finds its references in many ancient books like 'Manu Smriti' and 'Arthasastra'.Tax is a fee charged by a Government on a product, income or activity. If tax is levied directly on personal or corporate income, then it is a direct tax. If tax is levied on the price of a good or service, then it is called an indirect tax. The purpose of taxation is to finance public goods and services, such as street lighting, street cleaning, road, dams, utility services etc. Since public goods and services do not allow a non-payer to be excluded, or allow exclusion by a consumer, there cannot be a market in the goods or services, and so they need to be provided by the Government or a quasi Government agency, which tend to finance themselves largely through taxes.


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