NEW DELHI: New cesses and duty hikes may have made cars and garments costlier but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s focus in the Budget 2016-17 was job creation and making taxation simpler, not resource mobilisation, a top official said today.
Targeting a realistic 11 per cent increase in tax revenue in 2016-17, the Budget has attempted to make domestic industry competitive, fuel demand and create jobs, Revenue Secretary Hashmukh Adhia said in an interview here.
“The primary focus is not resource mobilisation. The primary focus is on tax changes for growth and employment generation,” he said.
Duty changes in customs and excise are aimed at “positively impacting the domestic competitiveness of our local industry. So this is the main idea,” he added.
Lower tax slab for new manufacturing companies have been proposed and incentives given to housing sector as well as first time home buyers to boost growth, he said.
Besides, he said, the Budget provides relief to small tax payers in the form of higher rebates and a simpler tax procedure for professionals.
Adhia said taxing new manufacturing companies at 25 per cent instead of 30 per cent slab is aimed at boosting manufacturing. “They will not have to wait for 5 years exemption phase out.”
Secondly, incentives for housing is aimed at fueling demand that can lead to pickup in construction activity and in turn more requirement of steel, cement etc and creation of jobs.
“We want to kick start the economy. First focus is only of growth and employment,” he said.(Agencies)
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