My simple take on budget

The annual budget presented by finance minister is a big enigma.  Certain things are predictable – criticism of the provisions by the opposition, unhappiness expressed by those either unaffected or adversely affected and welcome by those who are benefitted. There’s unpredictability too, like the tax exemption allowed up to annual income of Rs12 lakh and increase in standard deduction , though I could be blamed of being ignorant of the Pre budget expectations that hovered around relief to middle class and a boost to consumption. 

Now let me touch the enigma part. All of us lament that the problem is not about tax rates, which are high in any case, but the coverage of the tax net. With less than 2% of the population paying tax, the need is to broad base the tax net. However, the nation is celebrating relief to about a crore of the tax payers, who are out of tax ambit consequent to the enhanced limit. 

On a philosophical note, all the nation lovers want our great country to be scaling new heights of growth, progress and prosperity for which sacrifices are required from the citizenry to contribute to the process of nation building – infrastructure, defence capabilities, space research, healthcare, educational establishments et al. Ultimate path to the glory will lie in saving and mobilisation of resources for the huge outlays that all the aforesaid entail – savings by individuals as well as government and newer venues of mobilisation by the government . Already, in the new tax regime, there’s no incentive to save. My exhortation to all the youngsters is that even if savings result in no tax benefit, part of the surplus income that’s about to come their way due to enhancement in taxable income must be pooled into savings in any form – mutual funds, insurance or bank deposits – and that too every month. Government wants consumption to grow; we can contribute to it without necessarily trying to be one its poster boy.