If you were a foodie or had a penchant for eating out in air-conditioned comfort, you could duck the service tax of 12.36 per cent if the establishment was one that did not serve any liquor. But not any more.

Budget 2013 has poured cold water on those eating out. If the restaurant is air-conditioned, there would be a service tax of 12.36 per cent, period. In other words, the concession given to teetotallers is gone. Boozing might have been with some justification deemed a luxury, deserving a tax. But now seeking the elementary comfort of air-conditioning in searing temperatures too is deemed a luxury deserving to be taxed.

Cigarettes, often the favourite whipping boy of finance ministers the world over, are set to go up by a whopping 18 per cent given the increase in excise duty by this percentage and the tendency of the manufacturers to pass on the burden down the line, with the ultimate tab being picked up the smokers. SUVs not registered as taxis would be subject to an excise duty of 30 per cent from the hitherto 27 per cent just as the import duty on foreign cars would go up from 75 per cent to 100 per cent. Youngsters who have a thing for fancy smartphones might not be indulged by their doting parents any longer because the excise duty on cell-phones priced above Rs 2,000 would hereafter attract a 6 per cent excise duty with the present rate of a soft 1 per cent enduring only for cell-phones priced Rs 2,000 or less.

Ayurvedic medicines might witness a steep hike following the extension of the MRP-based excise regime to this category. If the MRP on the package is, say, Rs 200, and the excise duty 12.36 per cent, the excise duty payable would be 12.36 per cent of Rs 130, i.e., Rs 200 less an abatement of 35 per cent.

There isn’t much relief on the direct taxes front either apart from the measly Rs 2,000 tax credit reserved exclusively for those who do not have a total income exceeding Rs 5 lakh. It is also a small mercy that the tax deduction under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme up to Rs 25,000 would hereafter not be a one-off benefit. It can be claimed for three successive years subject to investments being made in each of the three years of the required order – Rs 50,000 so as to get Rs 25,000.

Inflation-indexed bonds might placate the disappointed middle class to some extent. And these bonds could well wean our people from the yellow metal perceived as the only true hedge against inflation.

And if the fair sex would not bristle, there is a bit of trivia – the government is going to promote an all-women bank, catering substantially to women and manned exclusively by women.

(Murlidharan is a Delhi-based chartered accountant.)

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