New fiscal chapter begins; tax relief brings respite to many

The new financial year in India begins on April 1, which is marked as April Fool's Day all over the world. The central and state tax burden, which makes the life of the people more difficult, is also increasing from today. Contrary to the norm, the centre has not made any major tax hike in the budget this time. Rather, it has taken some comforting decisions for the taxpayers. Those earning up to Rs. 12 lakh have been completely exempted from the tax net, making people in this category happy. Similarly, there are other benefits due to changes in the tax structure. There are other good decisions that will improve the lives of the people in the social and economic sectors. These include reducing the prices of life-saving drugs and reducing the prices of drugs for fatal diseases such as cancer.

The budget is characterised by the presence of many new programmes aimed at the development of the economic sector. The changes made in TDS and the unified pension system benefit about sixteen lakh central employees. The decision regarding the appointment of a new pay commission for employees is very promising. Although almost all the states would complain about the insufficient allocation, this year's central budget is generally welcomed in all states.

The state budget was presented under the pressure of facing two elections in Kerala. Finance Minister Balagopal says that the project expenses have exceeded one and a quarter lakh crore rupees. Of this, only Rs 84,000 crore is the state's own tax revenue.

When more than one lakh crore rupees have been spent on welfare pensions alone, almost the entire amount of tax revenue has to be set aside as a welfare pension allocation. KSRTC, which collects money from passengers and allows them to travel, has received Rs 1512 crore from the government. Yet, it has not been able to pay salaries on time even for a single month. Rs 952 crore has also been spent on the Jaljeevan project, which has not yet been fully utilised by the people. The project can be brought to fruition only after receiving many more crores still. Market intervention is increasingly needed because other types of supply-side intervention are not working properly. Market intervention that is done only during festivals is just a temporary relief.

Government employees are also in a difficult position. They do not know whether they will get the withheld DA arrears. There is no hope for the new pay commission. The finance minister claimed that the people have received the benefits of the government spending of Rs 26,000 crore in March. A significant increase in government expenditure has been achieved in the last three years. The increase of 92.37 percent in local government project expenditure and state project expenditure can also be considered an achievement. The achievement of waste management projects across the country is also a noteworthy achievement. However, even in the city centre, there are still many garbage dumps. This points to the need to find scientific ways to implement waste storage and treatment projects.