Friday, August 12, 2022

February 28, 1982, Forty Years Ago: Taxes and relief

Inland letters, envelopes, cement, tyres and sophisticated electronic equipment will cost more following a heavy dose of taxation – Rs 533 crore net – proposed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget.

By: Editorial |
February 28, 2022 3:40:04 am

India, Pranab Mukherjee, budget, India 1982, IMF, Subramaniam Swamy, Somnath Chatterji, defence expenditure, indian express

The Finance Minister gave some minor incentives to people from lower-income groups concerning house construction.

Inland letters, envelopes, cement, tyres and sophisticated electronic equipment will cost more following a heavy dose of taxation – Rs 533 crore net – proposed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget. The reliefs announced by him are concessions to the individual taxpayer and pensioners, small tax relief for incremental exports, help for construction projects abroad, rationalisation of capital gains and reduction of excise duty on consumer items such as ballpoint pens, pencils, thermos flasks, erasers, water coolers and toothbrushes, braille typewriters, invalid carriages, and helmets. The Finance Minister gave some minor incentives to people from lower-income groups concerning house construction. He announced a wealth tax on tea and coffee plantations.

IMF hand seen

While Congress (I) MPs predictably praised the Budget as one geared towards boosting growth and economic productivity, Opposition MPs, by and large, saw the hand of the IMF in its drafting and said that the poor would be worse off, especially because of the rise in postal rates. However, Subramaniam Swamy of the Janata saw no hand of the IMF in the budget and welcomed some of the incentives. But he felt that the high amount of indirect taxes was called for and regretted that the Budget had no proposal for slum development. Somnath Chatterji felt that the huge deficit would aggravate inflationary tendencies.

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The government intends to spend Rs 900 crore more on defence in 1982-83 compared to its expenditure in 1981-1982. The outlay has gone up to Rs 5,100 crore from Rs 4,200 crore. This will be the highest amount the nation will be spending on defence since Independence.

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