'Only 3% GST comes from billionaires': Mallikarjun Kharge recaps 'Gabbar Singh Tax' jibe after massive rate cuts

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has strongly voiced his opposition to the current Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure, accusing the ruling government of deviating from the original 'One Nation, One Tax' vision. Kharge said that the grand old party has been demanding the simplification of GST for nearly a decade now.

The veteran Congress leader criticised the complexity of the multiple tax slabs and the heavy burden imposed on the middle and poor classes, while only a small percentage is collected from the wealthy.

He referred to the current GST as a 'Gabbar Singh Tax' and cited the significant increases in tax collection over the past years as a strain on lower-income groups. The term 'Gabbar Singh Tax' was used by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for the first time in October 2017 to attack the Modi government. 

"Two-thirds of the total GST, i.e., 64% comes from the pockets of the poor and middle class, but only 3% GST is collected from billionaires, which the Corporate Tax rate has been reduced from 30% to 22%," Kharge wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He added that there has been a 240 per cent increase in income tax collection and a 177 per cent increase in GST collection in the last 5 years. 

Furthermore, the Congress president claimed that the Congress party demanded GST 2.0 with a simple and rational tax system in its 2019 and 2024 manifestos. "We had also demanded the simplification of GST's complex compliances, which had severely affected MSMEs and small businesses."

He insisted that compensation should be extended to all states for five years, considering the reform's potential effect on state revenues. "All states should be given Compensation for a period of 5 years, taking 2024-25 as the base year, because a reduction in rates is certain to have an adverse impact on their revenues."

This position is reinforced by Congress's long-standing call for a GST 2.0, aiming to simplify the tax code and reduce the burden on smaller businesses.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram remarked on the government's 'U-turn' from its original GST design, highlighting how delayed changes could have benefited the middle class much sooner. He noted the government's recent applauding of tax rationalisation but stressed these actions are eight years late.

Similarly, Jairam Ramesh expressed scepticism about the reforms' impact on private investment, voicing concerns over the lack of comprehensive change and calling for continued demands for an inclusive GST strategy.