Liquor, tobacco & gold will cost more in state No Money, Only Promises For Mumbai

Mumbai: Cigarettes and other tobacco products, cheaper IMFL alcohol brands and strong beer are set to get more expensive following finance minister Ajit Pawar's budget for 2013-14, which was announced on Wednesday. Gold, silver, diamonds, precious metals and jewellery made from these items will also be costlier. 

    Pawar sought to do a balancing act between giving relief for rural areas in a drought year while also ensuring there weren't too many additional burdens before 2014, an election year. 
    In Mumbai, landlords and tenants will see stamp duty for more expensive accommodations going up. However, if the security deposit for the flat stays low, the stamp duty can be controlled. 
    Confident of widening the tax net, the state government envisages its tax recoveries to increase from Rs 600 crore last year to Rs 1,050 crore. Tax on cigarettes goes up by 5% and unbranded tobacco by 12.5%. Cheaper IMFL brands will see a whopping 25% excise duty hike, while strong beer will face higher excise of up to 43%. 
    The tax on gold, precious metals and associated jewellery will go up by 0.1%. The tax, said Pawar, is for a year only and the money will be channelled for drought mitigation measures. The state hopes to mop up Rs 175 crore here. Another Rs 150 crore is to be raised by increasing the purchase tax on sugarcane. "Sugarcane factories utilize 70% of irrigation and must pay for drought measures," said Pawar. 
    The cost of cosmetics and shampoos classified as medicines (herbal products) will also go up as the government has levied 12.5% tax on these items. 
    The good news is that the cost of many essentials remains unchanged. These include tea, rice, wheat, pulses and flour, turmeric, tamarind, jaggery, fenugreek, papads, currants and raisins, wet dates, Solapuri blankets and towels. Budget 'spares' middle-class 
Mumbai: The cost of heart implants will go down as VAT has been reduced from 12.5% to 5%. Flavoured and toned milk will be cheaper too, along with stamp papers purchased from government-authorized vendors. Students who have a hobby of collecting stamps, envelopes and first-day covers will now no longer have to pay tax on the philatelic goods. 
    The overall budget at Rs 1.8 lakh crore is Rs 20,000 crore more than last year's Rs 1.6 lakh crore budget. However, there were no big ticket projects. In fact, the outlay for development (Rs 46,938 crore) increased by a paltry Rs 1,938 crore over last year's budget. The economy is expected to grow at 7.1%, according to the State Economic Survey. "The aim is to ensure that the middle class is not unduly burdened with taxes even as drought mitigation measures are taken up," said Pawar. There were no significant new taxes. 
    The rural-centric budget gave Mumbai no more funds, just assurances that ongoing infrastructure projects worth Rs 5,000 crore will be commissioned during the year. There was no mention of the Local Body Tax (LBT), which replaces octroi, either. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said 20 municipal corporations had already moved to the LBT and were doing fine. "We have given a grant of 10% at the time of changeover which will be done for the major municipal corporations too," he said. He later reaffirmed that it would be introduced this year by the BMC and other local bodies. 
    With the state facing an unprecedented drought, the budget aimed at drought mitigation measures has set aside Rs 11,500 crore for various longterm water conservation measures. Irrigation has been allotted Rs 8,379 crore (approximately Rs 2,000 crore is expected from the Centre to complete 140 projects that are 90% done). 
Third time lucky for CCTV project? T he state government has set aside Rs 150 crore for installation of CCTV cameras on Mumbai and Pune roads. This is the third consecutive year that allocation has been set aside for the much-delayed Mumbai CCTV project. The government is yet to complete the process of appointment of a contractor. It has also set aside Rs 317 crore for modernization of the police force. TNN