GST on shop rents should be reversed to ease consumer and trader burdens

Traders in Tamil Nadu are protesting against 18% GST on shop rents and state tax hikes, with political parties expressing support.
When 18 percent GST is imposed on the rent of shops and commercial establishments, the building space owners will definitely not pay that amount but collect it from the merchants who pay the rent. The merchants in turn will levy that amount on the goods they sell. This will increase the price of goods and ultimately the burden will fall on the consumers.
Salaried workers in the middle class already pay 10 to 30 percent income tax on their salary. They are forced to pay GST when they spend from their income after income tax. This amounts to double taxation. Either the income should be taxed or the tax should be levied at the place of expenditure. Taxation on both sides puts the ordinary middle class in a crisis. This results in salaried workers paying a large amount of tax on the money they earn.
It is necessary to collect taxes from the people for the functioning of the government machinery and for the country to progress. At the same time, there are basic principles on how to collect that tax from the people and how much to collect. The ancient book 'Raghuvamsa', says King Dilip collected imposed only one-sixth of the income of his people as tax. Chanakya has mentioned in his Arthashastra, “Rulers should collect taxes without hurting the people, just as a bee extracts honey without hurting the flower.”
The sign of a good government should collect taxes from the people, keeping in mind the thinking of eminent writers like Chanakya. The central government should immediately respond to the legitimate demands of the traders on withdrawal of GST on shop rent!