After the shock of demonetisation in November, K. Sureshkumar, proprietor of Madhava Rao Agencies, was looking forward to Union Budget 2017 offering some relief to taxpayers. But to his disappointment, this has not materialised.
“I was expecting some tinkering of the tax slabs and possibly the waiving off of the surcharges. But this has not taken place,” said the resident of Anna Nagar.
Mr. Sureshkumar said that the government must recognise and incentivise those who pay their taxes regularly, and in doing this, could encourage more people to pay their taxes. “Some sort of privileges could be given to honest citizens to reward them,” he said.
Speaking about infrastructure, he said that while for many, paying taxes was not an issue, the lack of development in infrastructure and services was frustrating. “I have a fuel outlet on NH 5 and the project to make it six lanes was proposed in 2010. But to date, nothing has happened,” he said.
As a father of two young men who have recently finished college, he also spoke about the education sector. “I wish the government had announced the setting up of a regulatory body for higher education institutions. It has become a huge business now, with extremely high fees and diminishing quality,” he said.
V.R.Srinivasa Raghavan and his family at Triplicane were expecting tax exemption across the income slabs in the Union Budget 2017. But, they are disappointed that the tax has been reduced only for the ₹5 lakh income bracket.
Mr.Srinivasa Raghavan, a publisher of devotional books, said it was a welcome move to cut the tax by 5 % for those with income up to ₹5 lakh. But, the Union Budget could have distributed the tax rebate to other income slabs as well at least till ₹7 or ₹8 lakh instead of a uniform benefit of ₹12,500 per person.
His wife Nirmala said the Central government, which is promoting digital economy and cashless transactions, must also improve technology for better digital communication. “I also expected a hike in interest for small savings schemes and deposits. But, there was no announcement on interest rate. Small savings come as a rescue for a middle class home maker like me,” she said.
For Valli, who is among the many homeless people in the city, the proposal by the Centre to construct 1 crore houses for the homeless by 2019 is a welcome move.
“We will definitely move if we get a permanent house, even if it is one room, it will solve most our problems. We really hope the homeless here get houses soon,” said G. Valli, a 50-year-old widow and daily wage labourer, who with her disabled son and niece, lives on the pavements of Wall Tax road. She added that living on the pavement had been increasingly difficult especially during rains and calamities, like the recent cyclone Vardah and the floods in 2015.
“During the cyclone, we huddled up to a nearby plot as the shelter nearby was already full and some wouldn’t allow men. Having a permanent house will solve most of our problems,” said G. Kaliyamurthy, Valli’s 29-year-old disabled son.
While there are currently around 37 homeless shelters in the city, activists say that they are merely a temporary solution and certainly are not sufficient to accommodate all the homeless people in the city.
