GST

What The Hell is GST?

You pay GST on almost every bill, and the shop pays none of it.

It collects that money from you and sends it on. That is the whole job.

The part nobody explains is what already happened before the product reached that shop.

GST stands for Goods and Services Tax GST = one tax on what you consume, collected in small pieces at every stage before it reaches you.

The government's own FAQ says it plainly.
Only the value added at each stage gets taxed, and the burden is borne by the final consumer.

That final consumer is you.

Real World Example & Calculation:

-> A factory sells a product to a wholesaler for ₹1,000, charges 18% GST, and sends ₹180 to the government.
-> The wholesaler sells it to a shop for ₹1,500 and collects ₹270, but it already paid ₹180, so it sends ₹90.
-> The shop sells it to you for ₹2,000 and collects ₹360, having paid ₹270, so it sends ₹90.
-> The government received ₹180 plus ₹90 plus ₹90, which is ₹360.
-> You paid ₹360, and nobody in that chain paid a rupee of their own.

That subtraction at every step is the whole machine Input tax credit = a business subtracts the GST it already paid on its purchases from the GST it collected from you.

So when a shopkeeper says GST is killing his business, he is talking about paperwork and cash stuck in refunds, not about the tax itself.

Since 22 September 2025 there are mainly two rates, 5% on everyday items and 18% as the standard one, with 40% kept for things like tobacco, aerated drinks and big cars.

GST is not a tax on shops. It is a tax on you, that shops are made to collect.

✍🏻 Mantra Joshi

Spotted a wrong number or something out of date? Tell me and I'll fix it.