In our example, when the wholesaler buys from the manu- Actual Liability facturer, he pays a 10% tax on his cost price because the liability has been passed on to him. Then he adds value of INR 40 on his cost price of INR 100 and this brings up his cost to INR 140. Now he has to pay 10% of this price to the government as tax. But he has already paid one tax to the manufacturer. So this time what he does is, instead of paying INR (10% of 140=) 14 to the government as tax, he subtracts the amount he has paid already. So he deducts the INR 10 he paid on his purchase from his new liability of INR 14, and pays only INR 4 to the government. So the INR 10 becomes his input credit. When he pays INR 4 to the government, he can pass on its liability to the retailer. So, the retailer pays INR (140+14=) 154 to him to buy the shirt. At the next stage, the retailer adds value of INR 30 to his cost price and has to pay a 10% tax on it to the government. When he adds value, his price ...