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Dear Nirmalaji: Don't tax online transactions

January 29, 2021 09:50 IST

online transactions

Photograph: Kind courtesy Mediamodifier/Pixabay

On Monday, February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget for Financial Year 2021-2022.

Nirmalaji has asked us to send the finance ministry inputs so that the government can prepare an all inclusive Budget, one that will incorporate the needs of its people.

In a month long series, A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com speaks to Indians across the land about what their expectations from Budget 2021 are.

Adhiraj Parthasarathy, 36, is from Hyderabad, Telangana. He is a graduate in anthropology and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.

He works in market research; his twin brother works in the private sector as well.

Adhiraj lives alone in a rented house.

He owns a house in Nainital and plans to buy a house in Hyderabad within the next five years. His income puts him in the 30 per cent tax bracket.

He has some suggestions for the finance minister:

Dear Nirmalaji,

Since the pandemic I have been buying almost all goods online.

Even when I am buying goods in a shop, I pay through Google Pay or Paytm.

I understand that you are planning to tax these transactions.

You are talking about cashless transactions, but by taxing these transactions you are discouraging the very process.

I am already paying income tax and GST and now you are burdening me with transaction tax.

To encourage online transactions and UPI payment, please do not impose a transaction tax or any cess on it.

The government should spend on infrastructure, particularly on low-cost housing in cities like Hyderabad.

It has done well in healthcare, particularly with schemes like central government's Ayushman Bharat and the state government's Arogya Shri.

Thank you.

IMAGE: Adhiraj Parthasarathy. Photograph: Kind courtesy Adhiraj Parthasarathy

Earlier in the series:

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com

A GANESH NADAR