In politics one week period may be too long, but for comprehensive economic reforms which should be meaningful a four-month time is too short. Seriously, the Modi government is up against time now as 2019 General Elections are just ahead.
Commentators and economic historians may become busy these few months to talk about hits and misses of the government in past five years, but for Modi it is more important to leave an imprint in the minds of voters. Better late than never, but the measures should be such to benefit entire nation.
The first and foremost should be to bring petroleum products within GST. Nobody will calculate the failure of bringing under GST the liquor and real estate. The high taxes collected on petrol and diesel should have been justified if the welfare schemes means for the poor class is spacious. It is a fact that poor was hit more than others with high price petroleum products where 50 percent of price is accounted for by central excise and state VAT.
The second should be income tax reform. There should not be a burden of it on lower middle class. There should be no income ta on incomes not exceeding Rs 5 lakh.
Thirdly the estate duty and wealth tax too need revival. This would send a message among the mass that the government does not want to serve the interests of rich at expense of poor citizens.
Apart from all these, the Modi government should think over banning cash donations. The current permitted value is Rs 2,000, but it obviously encourages splitting into thousands of units of Rs 2,000 each. The farming should also be made viable. The small and medium farmers should be supported to become well organized and equipped.
The post Last minute economic reforms needed for Modi to lure voters appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
