India, Aug. 20 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his August 15 speech that the government would bring a proposal in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to reform the indirect tax regime beginning with a reduction in the number of slabs. GST, if the proposal goes through the Council, is expected to become a 3-slab tax with two main rates of 5% and 18% and a special rate of 40% from the current four-slab system of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. Unless most commodities and services are moved to the 40% slab, which would increase the tax burden on consumers, this is likely to lead to a loss in GST revenues. What can we say about the fiscal implications of this rate rationalization? Here are three charts that try to answer this question...