India seems about to launch the biggest economic reform since a huge deregulation program was enacted in 1991.
The upper house of India’s Parliament has passed a bill to streamline and unify taxes on 15 goods and services taxes across the country, which has long had an extremely balkanized tax and regulatory system.
The Washington Post reported:
“Analysts expect the federal goods and services tax rate to be set around 18 percent. That is lower than the current tax rate on many items, such as automobiles and most retail goods. With a lower tax rate, and with hopes for greater transport efficiency, business are expected to lower prices, spurring greater demand. Arun Jaitley, India’s finance minister, has said he hopes that all this will spur GDP growth by an extra 2 percent and create millions of jobs — once it goes into effect, that is”
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