A four-tier Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% has been decided by the GST Council. With a view to keeping inflation under check, essential items including food, will be taxed at zero rate. The lowest rate of 5% would be for common use items while there would be two standard rates of 12% and 18% under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime targetted to be rolled out from April 1, 2017. The peak rate of 28% will apply to luxury goods. Luxury cars, tobacco and aerated drinks would also be levied with an additional cess on top of the highest tax rate. The collection from this cess as well as that of the clean energy cess would create a revenue pool which would be used for compensating states for any loss of revenue during the first five years of implementation of GST.