Those long drives with your loved ones and the romantic dinners with your dearest will soon become dearer. You may have to cut down on celebrations, what with Budget 2015 proposing an increase in service tax, and a concomitant rise in fuel prices.
Lighting the stick and puffing away to glory will not be light on the pocket, as tobacco products will turn costlier too. The average employee too does not have much to rejoice as the ‘no-tax’ bracket has not been raised.
“As it is, cigarette prices had gone up recently, and now we will have to shell out more. If the government wants to tell us that smoking is bad for health, then there are better ways,” said Rahman Khan, a dental student from the city.
‘Bring down taxes’
Some IT employees were upset for taxes not being brought down.
“Inflation is rising and it is important that employees be allowed to spend more than pay taxes,” said A. Ashish of the Forum for IT professionals. “IT employees are known for their spending power and if it is encouraged, then it would support many forms of employment too.”
A government employee of the Irrigation Department said: “From Rs.2 lakh we expected that the slab will be increased to at least Rs.4 lakh. It is unfair that that we have to pay so much taxes.”
Thumbs up
However, there are also those who positive about the budget. “Since the health insurance deduction premium will be increased, it will mean that we can save more income. Also, the Finance Minister understood that due to inflation, the transport allowance had to be increased to Rs.1,600, which is good for salaried employees like me,” said Girish Varandani.
‘Tourism dampener’
The increase in service tax from 12.3 per cent to 14 per cent has left city hoteliers gloomy. “The increase in service tax was a bolt from the blue for us,” remarked D.V. Manohar, chairman of the Shri Shakti Group and former chairperson of CII. “We did not expect the service tax to go up since we were demanding that taxes including VAT be brought down.” City youth say their outings and partying plans would go for a toss. “The city restaurants and watering holes are fleecing customers in the pretext of huge taxes. Now with increased taxes, students like me can no longer afford to explore food and leisure places,” said 20-year-old Apeksha.
‘Puzzling abolition’
Financial experts from the city believe the surprise element of this year’s budget was the abolishing of the wealth tax. “Wealth tax cannot be replaced by levying two per cent surcharge on the super rich, or those who earn Rs.1 crore and above,” felt D. Vijay Kumar, a city-based accountant. “The wealth tax was to discourage black money and helped in identifying those who earned properties and jewellery illegitimately. How the government plans to keep a tab on not just such citizens but also the corporates remains to be seen. However, the worrying part is that those who are under the super-rich category may be genuine tax payers and taxing them would be unfair.”
For some, it was business as usual after a careful look at the budget. “For the middle-class people, things will remain the same, because the cost of day-to-day items are unchanged,” Lisa Thomas Samuel, a telecommunication employee.
