The members of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) council in their collective wisdom came up with three rates of tax for the humble popcorn: 5%, 12% and 18% for plain, branded and caramelised varieties, respectively. Are these taxes to discourage people from eating spice/salt//sugar so as not to develop health problems such as hypertension and diabetes? Imagine the time wasted by the council to tax popcorns, a timepass snack for all classes of people, in three different ways. This is corny capitalism. Hope the council will not differently tax candies, chocolates and biscuits based on their sugar and milk contents. The important aspect of not taxing or at least to reduce taxes on insurance and mediclaim policies was again kept in abeyance. People are unaware as to where the priorities of the GST council rest. Why cannot the GST on all food products be uniform, at say 5%? This would be convenient for the manufacturers, sellers and customers. On some products the government may lose tax but overall, the revenue would be higher as the turnover and sales are generally higher from commonly used, consumed food products.
