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A lot.I’ll just give some brief highlights -1950: Constitution of India allows separate taxation powers to Central Government and State GovernmentsWe all know that in 1950, India adopted the Constitution, which gives separate taxation powers to the two governments keeping in mind the federal structure of the country. Accordingly -Central Government was given the power to tax incomes (income tax), manufacturing (excise duty) and imports into India (customs duty)State Government was given the power to tax sale of goods (then called ‘sales tax’), land revenue (stamp duty) and taxes on alcohol and agriculture produceLaws were formed by both governments, and the system was running fine for it’s time. Remember that there were some other minor taxes as well (stamp duties, octroi, entry tax etc.) which were levied by the State Government.1956: CST Act for inter-state movementsWhile state governments were charging ‘sales tax’ on sale within their own states, central government had the power to collect tax on inter-state sales. For this purpose, CST was levied and it started in 1956, but changed a lot over time, as we will see.1961: New Income Tax Act (which is now quite old)I was digging and found that Income Tax Act of 1922 was replaced by a ‘new’ Act of 1961 in order to ‘consolidate the clumsy provisions and simplify the law’. This is interesting because, today, the 1961 Act is undergoing the same problems. History repeats itself!1973: Insane tax rates were brought downIn those times, there were 11 tax slabs for people earning their incomes, with the highest rate being as high as a whopping 97.5%, wiping out almost all the income.[1] It looks like people of those times didn’t understand the concept of Laffer Curve showing ideal tax rates. Reforms were initiated, obviously.1975: HSN Codes adopted by CustomsThis was a significant move because it attempted to actually make a list of all the items in the world and systematically organise them into groups. This helped to gain a lot of clarity to taxation. This HSN system is still being used in Excise and even in GST. In fact, it is used world over to establish tax rates on goods.1986: MODVAT was introduced in ExciseI call this a path-breaking move because in some ways we are still following the MODVAT system. In fact, GST is based on the concept of MODVAT. In 1986, it was felt that if excise duty is paid on the raw material, then it would be double taxation to levy excise on full value of the finished product (because finished product includes raw material), hence a system was introduced to allow the manufacturers to reduce the input tax from their output tax.1991: Systematic tax slabs for income taxThe confusing multiple tax rates and tax brackets was discontinued in 1991, and under Manmohan Singh, we started the simplified system of 3 tax slabs (which we are using even today). At that time, the income tax slabs were fixed at 20%, 30% and 40%1994: Say hello to Service TaxService tax was one of the highest sources of income for the government (until GST discontinued it, let’s wait till we get there). In 1994, service tax was introduced on 3 services only (stock broking, telephones and general insurance). We will see how the journey of service tax evolved over time.1997: MAT was introduced under income-taxThe concept of MAT was one of the genius ideas that helped to streamline the tax collection from companies. MAT stands for minimum alternate tax, which shows the bare minimum amount that every company has to pay to the government (and if their tax liability is less than that, they can claim relief next year). Read this answer to know what is MAT and how it is helpful.2000: Special Economic Zones introducedSeveral areas around the country were identified as ‘special economic zones’ where no taxes would be levied. These areas would be treated almost as if they are not part of India. Hence if goods were sold to SEZ, it was treated as if they were exported. This was done to boost investments, and is still operational today.2004: Central Excise and Service Tax (almost) mergedIn terms of allowing the credit of service tax against excise and vice versa, this year marked a huge leap to integrate the tax on goods and services. Today, GST talks about a single tax on both goods and services. In 2004, people were not at all aware that such a thing could even exist. So this was a remarkable move.2005: ‘VAT’, the state-level tax reformWe are now finishing VAT as well, so this reform looks quite old now, even though it’s been ‘only’ 12 years. VAT was the replacement of sales tax. Sales tax was also levied on every stage, resulting into double tax (or cascading effect of taxes). VAT aimed to give benefit of input sales tax against output sales tax and pay the tax only on the ‘value-added’, hence the name.2009: First Discussion Paper on GSTThis was the first time when the concept of GST was documented properly. There were talks about GST since 2000 only, but we never paid a serious attention to it. The First Discussion Paper laid down the basic concepts of GST which India is adopting today.[2]2012: Negative List in Service TaxThis was a major boost for service tax. Up till that point in time, service tax was levied on ‘some’ specified services only. But in 2012, the system was reversed - meaning that taxes were levied on all services, except on some services which were exempt. This significantly increased the tax base for service tax.2017: Goods and Service TaxLooking back, it seems that GST was bound to happen. We were on a path to tax reforms from 1986 with the MODVAT concept, then slowly we merged excise and service tax, and introduced VAT in the states, and covered all services to finally culminate into a single tax for goods and services across the country.By adopting GST, we are discontinuing taxes like central excise, service tax, sales taxes, VAT, CST etc. which have been around for decades now. It is, thus, the biggest tax reform India has seen till now. Click here to know more about GST.To know more about Indian taxes, follow the Quora blog Earning our taxes. Or better still, follow me!Suggested Reading:Palkesh Asawa (पल्केश असावा)'s answer to What should every Indian know about the Indian tax system/rules?Palkesh Asawa (पल्केश असावा)'s answer to What is the difference between the current taxation and the new goods and services tax (GST) in India? What is the impact?Footnotes[1] A 50 year trend of Indian personal tax rates[2] http://www.cbec.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/1st-discn-paper-new.pdf

What is Direct Taxes ?A direct tax is paid directly by an individual or organisation to an imposing entity. A taxpayer, for example, pays Direct Taxes to the government for different purposes, including real property tax, personal property Tax, income tax or Taxes on assets.What is Indirect Taxes ?An indirect Tax is a tax that is paid to the government by one entity in the supply chain, but it is passed on to the consumer as part of the price of a good or service. The consumer is ultimately paying the tax by paying more for the product. An indirect Tax is shifted from one taxpayer to another. for Eg. GSTWhat is Excise Duty?Excise Duty is an indirect tax levied on production of goods that are manufactured and produced within the country. This type of tax is levied on manufactured goods. This is paid by the manufacturer on the finished good when it goes out of the factory. However, it is different from custom duty because custom duty is charged on goods produced outside the country. Excise Duty is levied on all goods, except certain goods that are exempted. There are three types of Central Excise duties collected in India namely: Basic Excise Duty, Additional Duty of Excise, Special Excise Duty.What is Sales Tax?Sales Tax is levied on the end product which is paid by the end-user or consumer. When we buy a product there are two parts of payment: one is the price of the product and the other is tax levied on it. So, when we make a purchase we tend to pay both amount knowingly or unknowingly. Sales tax is levied on sale or purchase within the State. Different states levy different levels of sales tax, while there is a Central Sales Tax levied on sale or purchase in the course of interstate trade.GST is introduced it would streamline most of the taxes including sales taxes and excise.Be Peaceful !!!

Short term, you will start paying existing sales taxes- not new taxes. Longer term the more interesting questions arise.1) Compliance costs- How much? And how will these be passed on to customers in the way of higher prices.2) Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) - 24 states have already signed up for this. Will the Wayfair decision push things along for the other states to sign up or to go their own way. (SSUTA does things like: create uniform taxability definitions of certain products and services, simplifies tax rates and gives immunity from audit liability for remote sellers that use the sales tax software paid for by the state members.)3) Commerce Clause – Will actions of state like New Hampshire, who are trying to block other states from forcing businesses from collecting sales taxes, force Congress’s hand and legislate uniform rules, economic/sales threshold amounts, dealing with local taxing jurisdictions?The Texas State Legislature hasn’t started meeting yet but the Comptroller has come out with some proposed changes to the tax code:1) “Safe harbor” added to provide clear guidance as to what will give a remote seller nexus. A physical presence test replaced with a sales volume threshold of $500,000 of gross revenue from in-state sales for the preceding twelve calendar months to trigger sales tax permitting and tax collections.2) No retroactive application of the new law to out of state sellers that have no physical presence in Texas.I have no idea if these will survive in Austin with the legislators in session.This is from the Comptroller’s guidance letter issued on June 27, 2018, “Gains from the ruling are likely to be lower than previous estimates of taxes uncollected by remote sellers. In the past year, for example, some remote sellers have volunteered to collect in anticipation of the Wayfair decision or for other reasons. Wayfair, the named plaintiff in this case, already collects Texas sales and use taxes. Also, in order to avoid imposing an undue burden on interstate commerce, the state will likely relieve some out-of-state sellers from collection responsibilities. More specific estimates will be available as the implementation and legislative process continues.”Here is a link to the Texas Comptroller’s proposed draft revision of Rule §3.286 concerning seller’s and purchaser’s responsibilities:http://www.ttara.org/files/document/file-5b91a12012c2b.pdf