Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the GST has replaced the 'Congress Legacy Tax' -- which was 31 per cent for most goods -- with a 'good and simple tax', adding that the existing 28 per cent slab will be phased out following further improvement in revenue collections.

"It is an opportunity to celebrate the biggest tax reform since Independence, which has replaced 'Congress Legacy Tax' with a 'good and simple tax'," he said in a Facebook post. "The pre-GST tariff was a Congress party legacy. The standard rate for central excise plus VAT plus CST (Central Sales Tax) was 12% + 14% + 2%. To this, if the cascading effect of tax on tax was added, the eventual tax payable on a commodity was 31 per cent.