The government must secure the agreement of India’s 29 states to the reform. If there is to be a common rate, the states must give up their much-prized power over taxes. Many fret about the possibility of lost income. Indirect taxes are 45% of the centre’s tax-take but 80% of state revenue, says Morgan Stanley, a bank. There are already worrying signs that, to placate the states, the GST in its final form will deviate from the ideal. The exclusion of land sales would raise the rate by 2-3 percentage points, reckons Satya Poddar of EY, a consultancy. Alcohol may also be out and petrol may be given a special status. But the more exemptions there are, the more the GST will resemble what it is supposed to replace. At issue is whether, as Mr Poddar puts it, the GST will be a game-changer or merely a name-changer?