Cease the cesses: Don’t try to politicise and distort GST with the cess on sugar

The 27 th meeting of the GST Council last week sent mixed signals on the future architecture of India’s most ambitious tax reform. On the positive side, the council has sought to simplify filing of tax returns. Taxpayers will be required to file just one monthly return, with the dates being spread out based on turnover. The change from the current three-stage return filing process is welcome, as i…