Arun Jaitley - Supreme Court's Loss - North Block's gain
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.RECENTLY Arun Jaitley said about P. Chidambaram, "He is an extremely competent lawyer. Parliament's loss will be Supreme Court's gain”. The converse is now true. Arun Jaitley is also an extremely competent lawyer and Supreme Court's loss may be North Block's gain as he has just taken over as the new Finance Minister of India.
Mr. Jaitley has a daunting task before him, more so as he has to criss-cross between North Block and South Block to manage the Defence of India from the South Block and to find the funds for it from the North Block.
While we wish him the possible innings in the wicked wicket of Finance Ministry (Jaitley was also a cricket administrator - as President of DDCA for thirteen years), may we remind him of some suggestions he had made, while he was an opposition leader?
IN DDT 2329, we reported, "BJP leader Arun Jaitley wants the Central Excise SSI Exemption threshold limit to be raised from the present Rs. 1.5 Crores to Rs. 5 Crores. He also wants the income tax exemption limit to be gradually, but significantly raised from the present Rs. 2 lakhs. He says, "It will be the major relief to small traders and mid level employees and the common man. The initial loss of revenue is not very significant. Such loss would be partly made up by placing more money in the hands of consumers and earning indirect taxes when consumers spend this money. The more the money velocity, the larger will be indirect tax benefits.”
He wants the Goods and Service Tax (GST) to be immediately implemented. Comfort level will be given to State with this aspect, which anticipates a loss of revenue. This will ensure uniform rate of Tax in all states.
All the demands of Mr.Jaitley are fair, reasonable and more importantly will appeal to the middle class, but it is easy to make demands while you are in the opposition and most difficult to implement when you come to power.
Participating in the 2012 Budget Discussions, Mr.Jaitley said, (DDT 1824)
For an earning person, the entire tax burden, taken directly or indirectly, could be anything between 50-60 per cent to what he earns.
Tax certainty is essential for any taxation planning. When investors come in, they must know how much tax they are going to pay if they earn money.
As regards service tax, the Finance Minister has formulated a principle that all services are going to be taxed this time except those, which are on the negative list. Don't look at the Budget only as a revenue-raising exercise.