Budget snippets

By Vijay Kumar

Mr. Yaswant Sinha was told by an opposition leader once that he was the second worst finance minister he had known. Mr. Sinha asked, ‘‘and who was the worst?’’ ‘‘you only during your first tenure’’, was the prompt reply

· Peter the great of Russia even made people to pay for sporting beards.

· A Turkish ruler required his hosts to shell out ‘tooth money’ for the wear and tear their meal put on his teeth

· Roman emperor Vespasian had placed a tax on public urinals. When his son Titus insisted that it was an undignified act. Vespasian took a handful of coins obtained from this source and held them to his son’s nose saying: ‘‘see my boy, if they smell?’’

· Michael Faraday once happened to explain his discovery of electro-magnetism to William Gladstone. The prime minister just shrugged it off exclaiming: ‘‘of what use is such a discovery?’’ ‘‘why, you will soon be able to tax it’’, Faraday shot back

· There were no lawyers in the highest class while the next higher class included 58 ministers of religion, 17 legal practitioners and no medical men. I wonder whether religion was more lucrative than law. ( a report in 1870)

· “There comes perhaps a time in the life of every smoker when the concern for his own health begins to outweigh the loyalty to an old and faithful companion. For those who cannot shake off their consuming passion, there is at least the consolation that the more taxes they pay, the more they serve the common cause. I am, therefore, fortified in my decision to increase once again the taxation on cigarettes by the thought that whichever way my smoking friends react, there would be a net gain to national welfare.” – YB Chavan

· “In a situation where both the husband and the wife are tax-payers in their own right, it would be improper for any outsider to decide as to who is dependent on whom. At present, we avoid this ticklish question by allowing both parties to claim a spouse allowance. This still leaves open the question as to who brings more tax benefit to the partnership through marriage. To eliminate this unintended strain on the relationship of marriage, I propose to provide that where both the husband and the wife have taxable incomes, the spouse allowance will be available to neither.” – Morarjee Desai

· “Housewives in India, as elsewhere, have been complaining for some time about the rise in their expenses. As a measure of economising on their fuel bills without affecting the nutritional and, hopefully, the gastronomic value of what they cook, I propose to exempt totally pressure cookers from excise duties. They would now find someone else in their kitchens letting off steam.” – Pranab Mukherjee

· Voting the Congress is not only good politics but also good economics- Dr. Man Mohan Singh