One Tax Ya Paanch Tax?

GST was introduced as “One Nation, One Tax, One Market”: a single, unified tax meant to replace India's patchwork of state and central levies.

What actually launched has five main slabs: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%, plus a separate cess on top of some goods and a list of exemptions. The same category of goods can land in different slabs depending on how they're defined (a standalone restaurant charges 5% GST, a hotel-restaurant above a price threshold charges 18%, for instance). “One Tax” became shorthand for one unified system with five different rates inside it, not a single rate.

“One Nation, One Tax, and then a footnote with four more tax rates in it.”