Subjects: GST Bill

Objects: People of India

Properties:

Wider Tax base

Simplification of compliance
Harmonization of centre and state thereby reducing duplication
Events:
Bill passed by Lok Sabha
Bill Passed by Rajya Sabha
Ratification by states
Constitutional Amendments by the Parliament
IT Infrastructure for implementation

GST was first recommended by Kelkar task force on implementation of Fiscal

Reform and Budget Management Act 2004. The objective was to adopt a
sustainable economic policy by improving the quality of expenditure and
simultaneously reducing the fiscal deficit. The same criteria for expenditure
management were reflected by the consequent reports of the finance
commissions in which it directed the states to improve its expenditure. Still the
implementation of GST is not in its fullest form as alcohols, tobacco and
petroleum product have been kept out of the purview of GST. The sole reason is
that they are the most important revenue contributor to the states and the
states cannot part with its populist measure. Hence the state does not want to
share the revenue with the centre. The Unitary system of different centre and
state government has created a divide as a result the actual objective of uniform
taxation structure with increased tax to GDP ratio and increased revenue surplus
is lost. The geographical diversity which was to be addressed at the state level
and was supposed to be in consonance with centres objective to reducing
poverty and inequality has turned in to a competitive political discourse which
has resulted in regionalism and have scattered the common governance
objective of centre and state.

SOPE says that passing of GST bill is major step towards improving the indirect
taxation system. In spite of the benefit being brought about by this reform
humongous amount of parliament time was wasted as political consensus could
not be reached between the ruling party and the opposition party. This problem
was evident when multiple parliament session was adjourned and no consensus
was reached. The statement by the President of India to the representative of the
people of India (MPs) to maintain decorum and abide by their respective duty to
serve the nation and their people by reaching the consensus fell on deaf ears.
The reason evident for this turmoil was to gain political mileage at the expense
of common man. The parliament is the top most decision making body that
supplements the democracy of India. It is the sole body that has the authority to
manage the tax collection and divert the capital into different areas for the
betterment of the society at large. Our subject was adept at increasing this
collection so that the redistribution of wealth can affect the economic and social
well-being of a larger section of the society.

Our SOPE is observational as it is the very back bone of the Indian economy. The
search is objective because the amount of time wasted could have been utilised
for identification and discussion of other important social problem and issue at
large. Scholar have opined against the unethical behaviour of the MPs in the
different print and paper Medias. The very basis of the constructive and positive
criticism in the form of the leader of the opposition was challenged. The diversity
of India which was brought by the Rajya Sabha was blamed and crippled the
parliament.

The basic legal issues involved are the ratification of the GST bill by the sates
and the constitutional amendment required for the implementation of the GST
bill. The Ethical question that comes to mind is whether the amount of precious
time spent by the ruling party towards passing of the bill is worthwhile.
Especially considering the circumstances that several other important bill have
been withheld and the productivity of the parliament was affected by the GST
impasse. When the opportunity cost of this outcome is compared the impact of
this significant bill is diluted. The primary reason for this dilution is that the April
2017 dead line will be missed and several important downstream issues which in
economic terms would have increased the per capita income have remained
unaddressed. This is morally wrong as people who have worked hard towards
achieving the desired result by entrusting their vote to represent them have
failed. Failure by MPs to perform their right and duties have delayed the trickle
down economic benefits. These are considered legal as the subject conforms to
the laws, ordinances and standards of India. They are ethical because these deal
with human values and human judgement. The question of morality applies to
the effects on the application of these human values and judgement. The
implications include:

Delayed economic benefits and social benefits.

Efficacy of the parliamentary democracy
Colossal waste of time and money
Delay in essential legislative business.
Discrediting political discourse
Blatant abuse of constitutional machinery.

AOL has enabled us to see he problem from the process point of view. It
enabled us to break the problem into small subpart. Analysing and describing
each part has stimulated group communication. The analysis sensitized us about
the stake holders responsibility. Viewing the case problem from different angles
widen our perspective thereby forcing us to select the optimum solution. It
enhanced our ability to apply conceptual framework while dealing other
problems.