“Tell me what big bang ideas are not there,” asked Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, when questioned that his Budget is being seen as one lacking some big bang ideas.

Brushing aside comments that his Budget has not done enough for the middle class, Jaitley said that the two Budgets of Modi Government has given to middle class much more than Budgets in last 68 years.

“My approach has been to encourage middle class savings and provide them with more money. The roadmap we are following is good for the middle class and their future,” he said in a post-Budget press conference.

In the July Budget, the Government made annual income up to ₹2.5 lakh tax free, while raising the tax deduction ceiling to ₹1.5 lakh. In this Budget, a number of new investment initiatives have been announced taking total deduction available now to over ₹4.44 lakh in a year.

He justified the move to hike service tax rates from 12.36 per cent to 14 per cent.

“Services is the largest segment of the Indian economy…Tax is an instrument of social engineering. So if services have to be taxed or you won’t get any services from the Government as they won’t have any money,” he said. Service Tax has been revised as a precursor to the Goods & Services Tax (GST).

On Goods & Services Tax, Jaitley said that the Government aims to implement it from April 1, 2016. But, for a roadmap ahead, he said that first the Empowered Committee of States’ Finance Ministers will have to choose a new Chairman. Then the Centre will have a meeting with the committee on issues such as rates etc.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW