New Delhi: P. Chidambaram on Thursday asked Narendra Modi if he was suggesting the government's chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian is "stupid" as he, too, had proposed to cap the GST rate at 18 per cent. "If it is Grand Stupid Thought to argue for a cap of the tax rate at 18%, then the CEA Arvind Subramanian and many other economists are stupid. Modi had told a rally in Gujarat on Wednesday that "an economist" had mooted a "Grand Stupid Thought" by suggesting the same tax on salt and luxury cars. It had also mooted a "sin/demerit" rate of 40 per cent on items such as luxury cars and tobacco products. The GST, as it stands now, has seven slabs with a cap of 28 per cent and a sin tax of around 40 per cent.

Source: The Telegraph November 30, 2017 21:11 UTC