Budget 2018: Salaried class disappointed |
India`s Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Feb 1 appealed primarily to sections that make up the numbers at the hustings - the poor, farmers, lower middle class, young jobseekers, senior citizens. The well-heeled will have to pay more income tax, including cess, as well as for imported goodies like cellphones, TVs and high-end. The taxman cuts of what they gain from successful punts on the stock market. The budget is expected to serve as a message of the Modi government`s attempt to reassure the constituencies that will be key for BJP`s fortunes in the state elections due this year and, more importantly, his re-election in 2019. It completes the transformation of a government, which was seen as pro-market when it came to office, into a promoter of welfarism. It is said that it`s flavor is politics, more than economics, as far as the willingness to slacken fiscal controls is concerned. The current year is estimated to end with a deficit of 3.5% of GDP against the target of 3.2% and next year`s goal is now 3.3% rather than the 3%. For farmers, there was the promise that minimum support prices for the crop to be harvested post-monsoon this year will be at least 50% higher than what it costs to produce.
|
|
|
|