Upcoming Budget - 2021. Please don't!

 Every year, many people, particularly those who take keen interest in current affairs, finance and economics look forward (I assume they do look forward) to the annual budget presented by the Finance Minister. This year too, is no different. There will be a budget. There is some anticipation built over it. There are some meetings that the Finance ministry has already had with some blokes in suits. Everything seems as usual. 

Except that.. this budget is presented for the seventh straight time by a Finance Minister who is not directly elected to the Indian parliament. And this budget is being presented at a time when independent India is about to witness its largest ever contraction in economic growth. -7.7%. That is no small number.

 Why do I make this attempt to write something on this year's budget. There was a statement by the current FM Ms Seetharaman - "FY22 budget will be made in a manner never seen in a 100 years in India". A younger me would have jumped with joy, and would have me all excited about prospects in the budget upon reading something of that sort. But, sadly my first reaction to this was.. 'meh'. 

That was very strange of me to not be excited of such a statement by the FM. But then, I think I am very tired of hearing such earth shaking statements and not being followed up with a iota of its intent. Some things that come to my mind of being let down -

• Dramatic increase in fuel prices during a historically low international crude oil prices. All thanks to increase in excise duty by the same FM (partly by the previous FM Arun Jaitley too)
• Highway tolls are expensive. Even with road infra cess being included in every liter of petrol or diesel sold. Sorry Mr. Gadkari, you cannot expect citizens to shell out such large amounts for unsafe roads, laden with potholes and speed breakers. Oh.. also, what fun it is to stand in long queues to pay tolls, even with fast tag. (Fast in the fast tag is a misnomer!). Lest we forget, state governments to extract their pound of flesh in road taxes. Ask the Karnataka government if you will. Eff.. that was quite a rant. Not entirely unexpected.
• The wait for a change in tax slab for the last six years. Not a penny has been passed on in terms of direct tax rebates. 
• Cess collection over and above GST has been extended to over the originally intended five years.  Unanimous decision by center and state governments at the GST council meeting. Oh wow.. consensus at something, and long live federal structure and its cooperation. Looks like they forgot to ask the people of this country if they would like to continue to pay cess on GST collected. Well, that is too much to ask I guess.

The above points highlight the direction of my thought and my mood. This is exact reason why FM's statement was of no excitement to me at all. 

 Have I become pessimistic. About this FM's and this government in general, well, yes. Sorry if you disagree. (Can one continue to disagree in this era? A turban clad farmer would be the right candidate to answer)

 In essence, what I intended to originally say was, forget the FM's statement of a grand budget. It will be a dud. Willing to bet a mug of beer on it. If you are a salaried employee, public or private, just go about your lives. You will not see reduction in income taxes. You will not see increase in 80C deduction limits. You will not see reduction in excise duties. You will not see any move that will cause industrialization at a rapid pace, which in turn would result in increase in employment opportunities. It will be a long (and of course boring) speech, with a quote from a Tamil poet (even though the FM is elected to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka), and lots of praise showered over dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi. I do hope the Finance Minister, in the least has read the article on moneycontrol.com titled 'A revolutionary proposal to the Finance Minister for the Union Budget 2021'. 

Oh.. before I sign off, I have only one ask to the FM. Yes, I too am a mere mortal, a citizen of this nation looking at the big government in want of something. What is the one ask? Please.. for the sake of 1.3 billion Indians, do not raise taxes in any form. Please don't.