Back Cut interest rates to make common man spend Recovery from recession is sure to happen with more pump priming. Accelerator effect would create ripples in the economic activities and give a push to the economy to move out of the recessionary tendencies. When economy is facing stagnation, it is a dream to expect the Budget to leave a lot of money in the pockets of the common man and also the business circles. To make the common man to spend, interest rates should come down as a disincentive to save an d loans and finances should flourish with low rates of interests and there will be a quantum jump in the economic push in creating demand and also to push purchases up. A Dream Budget should introduce novel incentives to individuals: • Repayment on hire purchases, repayment on mortgages and other retail loans are deductible under Section 80CC up to the limit of Rs 1.50 lakh. • Home insurance and vehicle insurance premium are to be exempt from income-tax. • Fixed tax pattern system for individuals with Rs 3 lakh returnable income should be introduced with an annual tax of Rs 15,000, irrespective of the segment of the assessee. Women and senior citizens with income threshold up to Rs 2 lakh are to be exempt from tax bracket. • Corporates and institutions, which enjoy differential rates of interests in asset and liability portfolios, should pay perquisite tax. All taxes related to consumer goods should be slashed to enable the market to pick up and stabilise. N. Chandra Sekharan, Mangalore © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line |