On the first Death Anniversary of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the government is remembering his contribution to nation-building and the legacy he left behind as Finance Minister during 2014-19.<br />''<br />''Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembered the leader in a tweet message saying, on this day, last year, they lost Arun Jaitley Ji. He added that he misses his friend a lot.<br />''<br />''The Prime Minister said that Arun Ji diligently served India. His wit, intellect, legal acumen and warm personality were legendary. Mr Modi also shared the video of prayer meeting held last year.<br />''<br />''Ministry of Finance acknowledged the key role played by Mr Jaitley in the implementation of GST, which will go down in history as one of the most fundamental landmark reforms in Indian taxation. The Ministry said, before GST, the combination of VAT, Excise, Central Sales Tax and the cascading effect of tax on tax resulted in the standard rate of tax being as high as 31 per cent in many cases. The multiple markets across India, with each state charging a different rate of tax, led to huge inefficiencies and costs of compliance.<br />''<br />''Under GST, compliance has been improving steadily. Taxpayer base has almost doubled to one crore 24 lakh. GST has reduced the rate at which people have to pay tax. GST has reduced the rate at which people have to pay tax. The revenue neutral rate as per the RNR Committee was 15.3 per cent. Compared to it, the weighted GST rate at present, according to the RBI, is only 11.6 per cent.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The Ministry said, that, GST is both consumer and taxpayer-friendly. While the high tax rates of the pre-GST era acted as a disincentive to paying tax. Finance Ministry said, lower rates under GST helped to increase tax compliance.</span><br />