The Fault in Oxfam Stats: Who pays how much GST in India
The Fault in Oxfam Stats: Who pays how much GST in India Prof. Vidhu Shekhar Summary: Following Oxfam’s claim that the bulk of GST taxes are paid by the poorest of the country, which was presented at WEF Davos and had a wide coverage, including in mainstream media, we dig deeper to find out the actual share of who pays how much of GST. "Of the total taxes collected from these food and non-food items, 64.3 percent of the total tax is coming from the bottom 50 percent," - screamed the well-highlighted text in the report titled “Survival of the Richest: The India Story” by Oxfam. The report was presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, making headlines with its alarming assertion that India’s indirect tax system disproportionately burdens the country’s poorest citizens. The report painted a grim picture, suggesting that the bottom half of India’s population bears the lion’s share of GST payments while the wealthiest contribute only a fraction. The