Previous Year Question
The idea of a National GST in India was proposed by which of the following?
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
The Kelkar Task Force is credited with advancing the early concept of a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India. According to the official Department of Revenue, Government of India, the Kelkar Task Force recommended a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax based on the VAT principle, with the objective of addressing problems such as the fragmented indirect-tax structure between the Centre and the States and the cascading effect of taxes.
The basic idea of GST was to bring different indirect taxes into a more integrated tax system. The process of implementing GST subsequently passed through several stages. According to the Department of Revenue, the formal proposal to introduce a national-level GST from 1 April 2010 was made by the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2006 07 Budget Speech, after which the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers was assigned the task of preparing the design and roadmap for GST.