Letters

The Budget presented in Parliament by Hon. Finance Minister reminded me of the remark made by Vidya Balan, the heroine of Dirty Picture, with a slight modification – “Expenditure, Expenditure, Expenditure.” Source: Robbing the Future and Digging the Past (Retrospectively). All that remains for him to say is, “Aur main expenditure hoon.” And sure he is. The so-called deficit, both revenue and fiscal, has been reworked cleverly using divestment target (Rs. 30,000 Crore) which will never materialise (?), gap in the revenue and expenditure of over Rs. 1,85,000 crore, which is left unbalanced, assumes subsidy burden of 2% (which will in all probability be far more at 4% to 5% of GDP)… the list is endless, and of course there is the borrowing, the growing debt of the Centre and the States. As if not satisfied with it, they now want to turn into grave-diggers by digging money and taxes from the past with retrospective amendments dating back to 1961, when I was a threeyear- old baby and many of us were not even born. The Budget claims to aim at a faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth in a stable environment. FM reiterates in Para 8 of his speech. “I know that mere words are not enough. What we need is a credible road map backed by a set of implementable proposals to meet these objectives…” Good words indeed, but again empty words. Our new Budget jingle will be – “Spend it all, spend it all, spend it all the way. Oh what fun it is to spend, When you’re not answerable any way.” Yes, there are increased doses of expenditure in all areas of the economy. But it does not add up to a sustainable game plan. Then there is the regressive move to enlarge service tax burden by a whopping 20% from 10% to 12%, which will hit the poor and the middle-class the most. There is a lot of devil in the fine print as well – Alternate Minimum Tax extended to all taxpayers, then there is TDS @1% on transfer of immovable property, TCS of 1% on cash sale of gold/bullion and jewellery. Special tax courts for summary trials and prosecution makes us look like petty offenders, rather than honest law-biding citizens. To top it up is the GAAR. The whole sense that it conveys is an extreme authoritarian hegemonistic attitude, where rather than treating the tax payers as partners in progress they are made to look like criminals and cheats. Unless we act, our position would be as illustrated in the Sanskrit couplet “Ashwam Naiva, Gajam Naiva, Vyagrham Naivacha Naivacha, Ajaputram Balim Dadyat Devo Durbala Ghatakaha”. (Not the horse, nor the elephant, and never the tiger, it is the kid goat that is sacrificed to the Gods.) We will be the sacrificial lambs.