New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- The decisions taken at the 56th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council were historic and can justifiably be called the launch of GST 2.0. After seven years of its rollout, a major overhaul has been undertaken to reform this levy on consumption.

The regime's four major tax slabs will be collapsed into two from 22 September and a new slab rate will be introduced as a penal rate for super-luxury goods and 'sin' items like tobacco. The earlier multiplicity of tax rates had militated against the spirit of a "good and simple" tax right from its rollout stage.

So, the shift to just two rates is a very welcome reform. The 12% and 28% rates have been eliminated and the 5% and 18% rates have been retained. As su...