India, Sept. 8 -- So, the GST Council has decided to simplify our lives. Yes, you heard right-simplify! Out go the old four tax slabs, in come two: 5% and 18%. And for those who like their pleasures with a little indulgence-say, a cigar, a peg, or imported cheese-there's a brand-new "sin and luxury" slab of 40% waiting to whack you.

Now, doesn't that sound moral? Two neat categories and a sermon thrown in: live holy, pay less; sin luxuriously, pay through your nose. Somewhere, I suspect the Council consulted a preacher before they consulted an economist.

But pause for a moment. Who decides what is sin? Is a smoke in the evening really more sinful than sitting smugly in an air-conditioned room? If the price of ACs has crashed to the poin...