Shoddy implementation and poor infrastructure have ultimately led to a #FailedGST. In result: businesses are shutting down and jobs are...

DMK leader M.K. Stalin launched a sharp critique of the Goods and Services Tax on July 1, 2018, marking one year since the tax regime was enacted across India. Stalin characterized the indirect tax framework as a failed reform, pointing out that shoddy implementation, complex filing procedures, and poor digital infrastructure had caused widespread economic disruption. He described the abrupt rollout as a surgical strike on the commercial economy, causing countless small businesses to shutter and accelerating job losses.

Small and medium enterprises in manufacturing hubs like Tiruppur, Coimbatore, and Surat bore the brunt of bureaucratic compliance hurdles and delayed refund disbursements. Stalin explained that hasty policy execution without addressing regional commercial concerns had choked liquidity and crippled unorganized trading sectors. Stripping states of their fiscal sovereignty had weakened their capacity to fund essential public welfare initiatives, reducing them to passive dependents on central tax devolutions.

Stalin urged the Prime Minister to conduct a comprehensive structural review of GST rules and tax slabs. He demanded that state governments be granted decisive authority within the GST Council to safeguard regional revenue and protect small enterprises.