Budget wish list: Citizens seek jobs, support for small biz and lower tax

Expectations of the people, for this year's Budget, reflect the economic realities of citizens, battered by the three waves of the pandemic.

Like every year, the Narendra Modi government had sought suggestions from the public — on the MyGov website — ahead of the Union Budget.

The government had invited public comments for the upcoming Budget on December 26, with the last date of submission being January 7.

During the 12 days, there were over 3,100 suggestions. Most of them are about the need to create thousands of jobs, reducing the tax burden on the salaried class, and providing financial support to small businesses. These are especially in sectors that are the worst hit, like restaurants and tourism.

“The investment deduction limit under Section 80C should be increased for the high salary income group. Salaried people are the ones who bear a major chunk of the tax burden of the country. This is because they can’t claim any kind of loss as in the case of business income class,” said a comment by a user named Nidhi Agarwal on MyGov.

“Tax planning options are limited for salaried people, unlike the business income group. Instead of standard deduction, non-traditional and diverse investment options should be encouraged from this class by way of deduction,” the person said.

“In the coming decades, we may face the biggest problem there is, unemployment, that too in the educated youth population. Only possible solution for this would be to promote tourism, mostly from the rural areas of India,” said another user, Aswin Raj.

Many comments talked about the need to create employment even as millions of informal and formal jobs have been lost due to the economic slowdown caused by Covid-19. According to the latest data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate reached a four-month high of 7.91 per cent in December as compared to 7 per cent and 7.75 percent in November and October 2021, respectively.

Urban unemployment rate rose to 9.30 per cent in December while rural employment stood at 7.28 per cent. Both saw a significant rise from 8.21 per cent and 6.44 per cent, respectively, in the previous month.

The rise in unemployment has been attributed to muted economic activity and consumer sentiment, which has been dented due to the rise in Omicron cases.

There were many comments asking for simplifying GST rates further, reducing excise duties on petrol and diesel, and increasing spending on health and education.

A user said the Budget should allocate up to 6 per cent of GDP for health care. In the earlier Budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had budgeted health expenditure at less than 2 per cent of GDP.

Sitharaman will present the Budget on February 1. It is expected that it will continue to focus on public investment in infrastructure in order to spur growth and consumption as well as create jobs.

By all accounts, the fiscal correction in the upcoming Budget will be very gradual, even as capital expenditure and spending on welfare schemes will be the two main planks.