Union budget: An exercise in gimmick

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SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL

27 February, 2010

Union Budget for the year 2010-11 is a gimmickry exercise to be a nightmare for commoners in time to come. Its provisions will increase inflation and price-rise to hurt people the most. In fact, whole approach to pr

UNION BUDGET for the year 2010-11 is a gimmickry exercise meant to be a nightmare for commoners in time to come. Its provisions will increase inflation and price-rise to hurt people the most. In fact, whole approach to prepare budgets should be changed at root level. Idea should be to practically eliminate menace of black-money role in Indian economy and to heavily tax goods and services which are used by status-conscious rich and elite society.

It can be done by having a uniform and maximum Income-tax slab of just 10-percent on incomes above rupees five lakhs per annum withdrawing all exemptions from taxation-system. Such a system will fetch much more money by tax in other sectors like in getting more registration-fees in sale-purchase of property. Presently a very little fraction of actual deal-rice is registered in accounted money resulting in large-scale evasion of registration-fees.

Instead of giving jerks to petrol-prices, other measures to earn more through petrol-diesel should be adopted. Sale of only branded fuel may be allowed on purchase of petrol-diesel through credit-cards or accounts with oil-dealers. Since government itself is biggest consumer of oil, more money will automatically come through purchase of only branded fuel. Fuel prices should be uniform throughout the country and in round figures.

Public-sector oil-companies should be merged to save on useless overheads rather than hurting consumers by price-jerks. Other measures should be taken to snatch taxes from rich and elite like by double rate of excise duty on bigger-priced cars say with ex-factory price above rupees four lakhs. Likewise other commodities and services used by rich and elite should have extra-ordinary heavy taxation-dose to snatch taxes on expenses rather than from incomes where tax-evasion has admittedly crossed all limits.