VAT Research Gap

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Research Gap
One very crucial aspect of the effects of VAT which has been left unexplored till date (to the best of our knowledge) is the repercussions of the VAT reform on the food consumption and hence the calorie intake of the people below the poverty line. If the imposition of VAT decreases the food consumption of the poor as a result of increased prices, the minimum nutritional requirement that an individual has in order to survive, might not be met. This might have an adverse effect on the health of a person and his/her probability to fall sick rises too. As the popular saying goes, ‘health is wealth’ and an unhealthy person can never contribute to the economic growth and development of a nation. Apart from this, health is human capital …show more content…

Since VAT is a more neutral and transparent tax system, apart from being a more broad-based tax structure, where tax is levied at multiple stages of production and not just at one particular stage, it might be a boon to the socio-economic prosperity of a nation. There are quite a few evidences in literature which support this view (Charles and Isaac,2014 ; Roy et al. 2006). However, opinion on the same is divided. Ajakaiya (1999), using a general equilibrium model has shown that the imposition of VAT led to a rise in poverty in Nigeria. A study on the distributional impact of implementing VAT has shown that a revenue neutral, uniform rated VAT is regressive in nature (Hossain,2003). Thus, the effect of the VAT system of taxation on the poor is still ambiguous.
By hypothesizing that the implementation of VAT reduces poverty, we have tried to estimate the consequence of the VAT system of taxation on the incidence of poverty across the various states of India post the change in the indirect tax structure in …show more content…

The data on poverty has been drawn from the Planning Commission Reports on estimates of poverty released by the Government of India. The Planning Commission periodically estimates poverty ratios for the respective years for which the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) conducts large sample surveys on Household Consumption Expenditure. These surveys are conducted on a quinquennial basis and the ones we have utilized in our study are the 66th (July,2009-June,2010) and 68th (July,2011-June,2012) round surveys. The results of these surveys are planned for release under various reports. The 66th round covered 100,957 households and Schedule I of 68th round of survey was canvassed around 119,378 rural and 83,935 urban households.1 The official estimates of poverty incidence used in this exercise are calculated using the Tendulkar methodology of poverty estimation. Further, the data on the State Domestic Product (at constant prices), capital expenditure of each state and the food inflation rates (Base year: 2001) has also been collected from the

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