As GST completes one-year, consumers feel let down

63 percent of people are unhappy with Goods and Services Tax (GST) and said that their monthly grocery bills had not gone down as was claimed by the Central Government while rolling it out last year.

The survey conducted by LocalCircles, a citizen engagement platform, ascertained the impact GST had on lives of people post its implementation.

Out of over 32,000 people in 215 districts interviewed, 63 percent believed that their monthly grocery bills did not reduce, whereas only 21 percent felt that their monthly grocery bill reduced.

Four polls were conducted, including questions like, whether the monthly household grocery bills had reduced due to GST, whether the cost of eating at a restaurant had come down post GST implementation and, impact of GST on cost of services.

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However, the Government is planning a mega celebration marking the one-year anniversary of GST rollout claiming that every home has been made into a happy home, but this survey contradicts this claim.

A section of central excise superintendents have threatened to boycott the event, maintaining that nothing much has changed.

Right from the day the GST was implemented the country has only been suffering. The economy was hit hard, business shut, small traders suffered and majority of the people raised their voice against GST, but the government did as it had planned.

Turns out, so good and simple tax did not turn out to be as good and simple as was claimed by the government at the time of its rollout.