The Indian government’s move to impose a three-tiered tax on popcorn, based on its sugar or spice content, has caused tempers to pop during the holiday shopping season, with social media users roasting the decision and experts warning of deeper cracks in the country’s complex tax system.
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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by the finance minister and including state representatives, announced on Saturday that with immediate effect, non-branded popcorn mixed with salt and spices would attract a 5 per cent GST, pre-packaged and branded popcorn 12 per cent, and caramel popcorn, categorised as a sugar confectionery, 18 per cent.
The announcement was met with scorn online, with local media highlighting a now-deleted viral post made by a start-up founder on social media platform Reddit complaining about the country’s excessive regulations and high taxation even on an item like popcorn and urging people to leave the country.
The new taxes also became fodder for social media memes, such as one depicting people kneeling before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holding bags of popcorn.
“Even popcorn reaches 18% GST slab. Next she’ll tax air and sunlight,” read a post by one Dr Ranjan.
Another user wrote: “India’s tax system: turning popcorn into a luxury item one kernel at a time. 5% for salt, 18% for caramel-might as well declare butter popcorn as ‘imported goods’ next.”
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Established in 2017, India’s GST is an indirect tax that consolidates central and state levies on goods and services into a uniform tax to help eliminate the cascading effects of multiple taxes across different provinces and reduce logistics costs.