Tax Reform Debacle THE efforts which have been going on for the last five years to reform the diverse systems of sales taxation operating in the different states and to replace them with a Value Added Tax(VAT) have been dealt a mortal blow. Maharashtra, the only state which had dared to go the whole hog towards introduction of VAT, has abandoned the reform path and decided to return to the beaten track of a sales tax laced with a turnover tax and a surcharge on