Accusing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of pleasing just the corporates and the income tax payers, his predecessor in the UPA regime P. Chidambaram on Saturday said the Modi government’s first full budget has failed the fiscal test, the test of equity, and the test of rising inequality.
“If one asks who is pleased by the Budget, I suspect it will be the corporates and the income tax payers (3.5 crore).
Where does that leave the vast majority of the people, especially the poor, who look up to the government for succour and relief?” Mr. Chidambaram said in a statement.
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“While the income tax payers (3.5 crore) may have been got some relief, all others have been burdened with increases in excise duty and service tax,” he added.
He said that there was no justification at all to set back the target date of achieving a fiscal deficit of 3 per cent by one year.
Mr. Chidambaram also questioned government’s claim that it has stretched the fiscal deficit from 3.6 per cent to 3.9 per cent in order to fund growth.
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“This is a questionable claim. 0.3 per cent means that the government will borrow an additional amount of Rs 37,500 crore. To what use has this money been put,” he said.