Will we write an elegy for GST?

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not an exotic animal. It is in force in federal and unitary nation-states. There are different models, but the basic principle is the same: that a tax paid at one stage in the chain of supply must be set off against the tax payable at the next stage. There should be no tax on tax. MODVAT, and then CENVAT (central VAT), was introduced to mitigate the impact of ex…