The latest rationalisation of GST slabs has sent a quiet but significant signal: tax rates are no longer untouchable. In the past, governments have hesitated to fiddle with tax rates much, on the premise that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This has been true of both direct taxes—where corporate taxpayers have benefited much more than the individual salaried middle-class taxpayer—and indirect taxes, which fall on the end consumer.