The Union Budget, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley, seems to have not gone well with a large section of Delhiites who were expecting rebate in their personal income-tax slabs. However, the Budget definitely brought smile on the faces of those whose annual income is less than Rs 5 lakh and who are either living in rented accommodation or are planning to buy their own homes.
The government has not made any changes in the personal tax slabs. A South Delhi resident, whose annual income is close to Rs 10 lakh, said he was totally disappointed as Mr Jaitley had not addressed the aspirations of the middle class who were reeling under inflation. “I have two schoolgoing children. I end up paying about Rs 2.25 lakh every year towards their school fees and bus charges. Besides, I have to cough up about Rs 20,000 for rent every month.”
Echoing similar sentiments, an East Delhi resident said that the prices of essential commodities have gone up so much that people are not able to smoothly run their households. “I was expecting that Mr Jaitley would give maximum tax exemptions to the middle class. But he has disappointed me.”
Those living in rented houses were all praise for Mr Jaitley. The Centre has increased the house rent reduction from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 per annum. “That means we can save on our house rent exemptions. Also, if I buy a house, which costs less than '50 lakh, I will get a rebate on Rs 35-lakh bank loan. It seems I can now think of buying my own flat in Delhi. This is really a dream come true for me,” a Delhiite said.
Small taxpayers surely have a reason to cheer as the Budget provided individuals with up to Rs 5 lakh annual income to top off tax rebate from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2,000. Akshat Khanna, who is a middle-class earner, said, “I would say the Budget is mostly focused on the lower class. There are rebates for those who are going to purchase a new house.”
However, Mr Khanna was critical of tax hikes on tobacco products, food, branded clothes, cars and other luxury products.
On Mr Jaitley’s proposal to keep retail outlets open all through the week, Neeraj Bhojak, who owns a store in South Delhi, said: “We used to keep our shop closed on Tuesday, but now I think its good that now we can open our shops on all seven days. It would surely help shopkeepers like us to declare actual business turnover and profit but yes apart from that it is beneficial for those who would open new stores, as it will encourage them to do business fairly. This would also increase the level of competition in the market too.”
Richa Sharma, a public health consultant, said: “Introduction of a new health scheme will lead to confusion and throw a bigger challenge for implementation as it would require a minimum of three years and till then the government may also change. Hence it will be wasting again three years to reach the ground level but opening of 3,000 drug stores is a good decision as it is really required. In addition, revamping of the already existing drug stores should also be considered. Introduction of dialysis centres nationally is good. The strategy of Andhra Pradesh which is already running this model under Aarogyashree can be adopted at the national level, all in all a good move.”
There were mixed views from the students who felt nothing new has been done regarding the education system. Priyansha Mehra, a university student, said, “Although a fund of Rs 1,000 crore has been announced for creating a higher education funding agency, but it looks like most of the money would be used for redressal of the problems of students seeking educational loans. The government promised of opening IIT-like institutions in last year’s Budget, which is still in pipeline. I personally feel these new schemes or projects are just overambitious.”
