Will only mean higher prices for customer, says Prof N Ramalingam A leading taxation expert and academic has said that it is advisable not to recommend tax exemption for Covid-19 medicines, especially for those having a lengthy supply chain with multiple staged input taxes.
“Any exemption under VAT/GST system will distort the tax system and may lead to a price increase for the ultimate consumer due to non-availability of input tax credit benefits to suppliers,” says Professor N Ramalingam, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Thiruvananthapuram.
In what he qualified as personal opinions, Ramalingam explained to
BusinessLine the concept of exemption under GST and its implications. He also went on to propose three options before the GST Council for handling the exemptions under GST.