WEB

MAGAZINE

SECTIONS

INTERACTIVE

FEATURES

REGULARS

RESOURCES

RSS

Business

Cover Stories

Opinion

MAGAZINE | MAR 11, 2013

INVESTMENT ANALY SIS

The Ol Sop N Sink

The budget permits a voyeuristic pleasure in watching the rich squirm beneath a 10 per cent surcharge.
GAUTAM CHIKERMANE Like TEXT SIZE 1 Send Tw eet 3 COMMENTS PRINT

ALSO IN THIS STORY

(Show Stories)

What can a troubled FM in troubling times deliver? Very little. But within the constraints, P.

Chidambaram has been able to shoot for what he could. Hes been brutally honest: Even a moderate incr ease in the level of threshold exem ption will mean that hun dreds of thou s ands of taxpayers will go out of the tax net and the tax base will be seve rely eroded. No revision of tax slabs, no new exemptions. And barring a mere feelgood credit for 18 million tax pa y ersup to Rs 2,000 for incomes of Rs 5 lakhno relief from rising prices, slow growth, high interest rates. Beyond the inflation-infested real estate markets of the met ros, though, there is respite. If youre a first-time home buyer and borrow Rs 25 lakh, you will get an additional deduction of Rs 1 lakh above the existing deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh. But, a house with a carpet area of over 2,000 sq ft or pri c ed over Rs 1 crore will cost morethats nearly every apartment in the met ros. There were no additions to the 80C list of exemptions. Thats goodthe simpler the tax code, the easier it is for honest taxpayers to follow. That the know your customer (KYC) process in banks will suffice for insu ra nce poli c ies is a good step. Why it was not exte nded to all financial prod ucts escapes logic. Post-debate, I hope invest ors can look at a single KYC to mutual funds, stocks, futures and comm odities. This would enable a smo o ther transition to fina n c ial products, instead of the defa ult option of real estate and gold. Robin Hood budgets have been prese nted over and again. Budget 2013-14 returns to that idea in a second dash to tax the rich. Of course, we hate the richtill we get there, that is. So, lets relish the voyeuristic pleasures to be had in watching them squirm. A person with a taxable income of Rs 1.2 crore will have to pay Rs 3,53,290 more in taxes due to a 10 per cent surcharge. That translates into a princely sum of less than Rs 30,000 per monther, what are they whining about? Heres what. The real pinch to the 42,800-strong army of people making more than Rs 1 crore per annum will come from the spending sidefrom imported cars and yachts (customs duty raised to 100 per cent from 75 per cent) to SUVs (excise duty up by 3 per cent) and cigars (excise duties raised by 18 per cent), the (not so) merry man in whites has increased taxes on all these luxury productsand given us enough to feel good about. But if I were to pick the one thing I like about Chidambarams pre-election budget, it is this: a one per cent tax deducted at source (TDS) for all property transactions (minus the holy cow, agricultural land) worth Rs 50 lakh or more. The idea, it appears, is to improve the reporting of such transactions for paying capital gains. And even though the problem of undervaluation remains unaddressed, unclear and open to debate, this is a good first step towards hitting unaccounted-for transactions. The author is a journalist and policy analyst; gchik ermane AT gmail.com

Like TEXT SIZE

Send

Tw eet

COMMENTS

PRINT

FILED IN: AUTHORS: GAUTAM CHIKERMANE TAGS: BUDGET 2013 | BUDGETS | RICH | TAXES-DIRECT & INCOME TAX | REALTY SECTION: BUSINESS SUBSECTION: COVER STORIES | OPINION

Follow us on Twitter for all updates, like us on Faceb ook for important and fun stuff
TRANSLATE INTO:

ALSO IN THIS STORY

BUDGET 2013-14

The What-If Man Of Tomorrow

No one dare say it, but Indian politics has a hidden vacancy. Can P. Chidambaram fill it?
LOLA NAYAR
BUDGET 2013-14

To Have A Chance, And Have Not

Is Chidambaram to keep Rahuls seat warm? A close look...realpolitik says nay.
SABA NAQVI
JUMP CUT

The Hopefuls Gambit

What P. chidambaram needs to watch is the gap in his budgets between projections and ground realities.
NARENDAR PANI
JUMP CUT

The Leaves Have Turned Yellow

Rather than making people self-reliant, the government has reduced them to a line of begging bowls.
P.V. RAJAGOPAL
PERSONAL FINANCE: OUTLOOK MONEY

A Wink And A Budge

Outlook Money offers a primer to make the most of these testing times.
MARKETS

The Baritone Ebbs

Despite the effect his speech had on equity markets, his budget tackles the issue of a slowing economy.
MOHIT SATYANAND

Post a Comment

Post a Comment
You are not logged in, please log in or register If you w ish your letter to be considered for publication in the print magazine, w e request you to use a proper name, w ith full postal address - you could still maintain your anonymity, but please desist from using unpublishable sobriquets and handles

DAILY MAIL HAVE YOUR SAY

1/D-91
MAR 02, 2013 03:08 PM

'Tax the males to appease the feminists" This seems to be the established financial mantra of our nation that is doomed.
MALE UNBLOCKED CHENNAI, INDIA PERMALINK | LIKE (0) | DISLIKE (0) | REPORT ABUSE

HAVE YOUR SAY Comments Policy

Or just type in a few initial letters of a topic:

go

OUTLOOK TOPICS: AB C D E FGH IJ K L MN OP QR S TU VWXYZ 0123456789