Tax Reform for a National Market

WEEKLYECONOMIC AND POLITICAL Tax Reform for a National Market News reports about a budgetary subvention of roughly Rs 500 crore a year to the public sector oil marketing companies to part-compensate them for the central sales tax (CST) they pay on the 13 million tonnes of refined products they lift from the Jamnagar refinery of Reliance Industries serve to focus attention once again on the messy taxation system that impedes economic growth and prosperity in the country. The centre and the states must get together for a complete overhaul of the different kinds of taxes and tax incentives they sponsor, fracturing the national market in the process.