GST: More than half of people in India not aware of new tax regime, says survey

New Delhi: More than half of people in the country are unaware of the Goods and Services Tax, a survey by a mobile news application company has claimed. The survey of over 3.6 lakh people across the country found that two Telugu speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have the highest awareness on the GST with over 64 percent of population knowing about it. People in Tamil Nadu have the lowest awareness level, the survey by Way2Online found. “Following an extensive research, the report concludes that less than half the population of India; 45 percent to be precise, is aware of the new tax system. The remaining 55 percent is unaware of what GST is,” Way2Online said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_3781843” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Way2Online, a local language short news application, conducted this survey between 26-30 June with over 3,60,000 participants across the country. The new tax regime, which became effective from 1 July, aims to put an end to number of indirect taxes levied on goods and services and stop duplication of taxes over a product. The new regime taxes various goods and services at 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent, while keeping essential commodities out. “Interestingly, even though many are aware about the GST in Telugu speaking States, majority is of the opinion that the change in the tax system is not a good news to them. Our survey showed that only 42 percent of Telugites are convinced that GST is beneficial and the other 58 percent responded with either ‘Not Beneficial’ or ‘Have No Idea’ about its pros and cons,” the statement said. The survey found that 59 percent of the urban audience know about GST but still 60 percent of them think that the new tax regime would not make their lives better and 80 percent assume that there will be a spike in prices or have no idea about its implications. “This uncertainty is not only with the Urban Audience but also with the overall population in our country. A total of 41 percent expects a surge in the prices and 35 percent are still not aware of its consequences,” the statement said.