GST TRANSPARENCY AND CONSUMER TRUST: EXAMINING THE MEDIATING ROLE OF TAX AWARENESS AND THE IMPACT ON CONSUMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

The study examines the relationship among GST transparency, consumer trust, tax awareness, and consumer purchase behavior. The study focuses on whether consumers' understanding of the GST strengthens the connection between perceived transparency and trust, and whether trust, in turn, is linked to purchase behavior in a bcontext where indirect taxation affects pricing, awareness, and the decisions people make when buying goods.The research employed descriptive and analytical methods and collected primary data through a structured questionnaire distributed via Google Forms. Of the 200 people who were meant to take part, 170 replied. The responses were coded in Excel and then moved into SPSS for analysis. The descriptive results
show that there are positive attitudes towards GST transparency (mean = 3.82; standard deviation = 0.74), consumer trust (mean = 3.67; standard deviation = 0.79),
purchase behavior (mean = 3.59; standard deviation = 0.81), and tax awareness (mean = 3.45; standard deviation = 0.88).The chi-square analysis shows a significant
association between education and tax awareness, with a chi-square value of 34.12 and a p-value of < 0.001; on the other hand, there is no significant association between age and trust level, with a chi-square value of 10.45 and a p-value of 0.105. The results indicate that GST transparency is positively related to consumer trust and that tax awareness plays a part in this relationship. The study stresses the importance of clear GST information, transparent billing, digital receipts, and specific tax
education.