“Union Budget 2018-19,
presented by Shri. ArunJaitley, the last full budget of this Government came
with a lot of expectations. The budget was not a populist budget for the tax
payers. The budget was futuristic with an eye towards ‘New India 2022’. The budget promised a lot on infrastructure,
health sector and agriculture – the vitalities for India’s development. Social
Security for the poor and downtrodden is a basic indicator for a developed
country. With this in perspective, the Finance Minister announced the ‘World’s
largest Government-funded health care programme’ – National Health Protection
Scheme to cover 10 Crores families approximately 50 Crore beneficiaries.
Financing for MSME’s have also been given importance by way of a proposal to
add public sector banks and corporates onTrade Electronic Receivable
Discounting System (TReDS) platform andlink this with GSTN. This will enable
online loan sanctioning facility for MSME’s. The tax benefits brought about by
the Finance Bill were limited. There was no change to the tax rates. Cess
levied on Income tax as Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess
at 3% was increased 4% in the name of Health and Education Cess. The Finance
Minister completed his speech with the words of Swami Vivekananda ‘‘You merge yourselves in the void and
disappear, and let new India arise in your place. Let her arise – out of the
peasants’ cottage, grasping the plough; out of the huts of the fisherman. Let
her spring from the grocer’s shop, from beside the oven of the fritterseller.
Let her emanate from the factory, from marts, and from markets. Let her emerge
from groves and forests, from hills and mountains’’. In general, this
Budget 2018-19 can be summarized to be a budget with futuristic vision”.
A detailed
analysis on the taxation proposal is presented for your valuable information.
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