Words and deeds

Sir, - The Finance Minister, Mr. Yaswant Sinha, had proclaimed last week that there would be no cuts in personal income tax rates in the coming year's Union Budget.

Contrast his present statement with his public outcry as an Opposition BJP stalwart (in several BJP manifestos) in the early to mid 1990s that the threshold limit for personal income tax should be raised to Rs. 1,20,000 at the very least.

Compare the present statement with the oft-stated BJP line (as an Opposition, of course) that the minimum taxable income should be fixed at the 1960 level and indexed for yearly inflation.

And what has the BJP done in the last two years to implement these pet theories of theirs? On the contrary, they have introduced measures to completely stifle the salaried middle class, the only honest tax paying lot.

The draconian income tax surcharge was reintroduced by Mr. Sinha in 1999. And what did Mr. Sinha say at that time? ``I know it is unpopular but it is only for a year''. But, Mr. Sinha this year, instead of scrapping the surcharge as promised, hiked it to 15 per cent.

In this year's Budget, Mr. Sinha said that he wants to exploit the ``soft crude oil prices'' and raise revenue by imposing additional duty on petroleum prices because their basic price was low.

In October, he said that international crude oil prices had risen steeply and hence he was raising their prices. With the likes of Mr. Sinha around, for the common man, you pay more when it costs more and you pay more when it costs less also.

N. Parthasarathy,

Tiruchi (TN)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Opinion
Previous : Rethinking on reforms
Next     : Mental subjugation