Tough year ahead for the housewife
With the Finance Minister choosing to dig deeper
into the pockets of existing taxpayers, it appears that the year ahead is going
to be a difficult one for the housewife, especially one whose spouse belongs
to the salaried class. Let us take a quick glance at how her receipts and expenses
could be affected by the measures announced in the Union Budget 2002-03.
Receipts
Measures such as (1) Surcharge of 5% on income
tax on all categories (2) Reduction/ elimination of benefits available under
Section 88 of the Income Tax Act (3) Taxation on dividends at the hands of individuals
rather than corporates or mutual funds and (4) Extension of service tax to life
insurance; are expected to lower the disposable income of salaried class, which
in turn implies lower amount given to the housewife for running the household.
Expenses
She will have to shell out more for cooking, with
the increase in LPG price by about Rs 40 per cylinder. However, the decrease
in transportation cost due to cut in diesel price by about 50 paise per litre,
could lead to a decrease in price of vegetables, fruits and other food items,
something which will definitely be welcomed by the housewife. Price of tea could
reduce if the reduction in excise duty on tea is passed on to consumers.
Cosmetics and toiletries being a passion for women, the housewife would have
a lot to gain if the benefits of removal of special excise duty on these items
are passed on to her in the form of lower prices. However, with beauty parlours,
dry cleaners, fashion designers, cable operators and health and fitness centres
coming under the service tax net, she will probably have to shell out more for
these amenities.
We can conclude by saying that even if the overall
expenses of the housewife remain unchanged, she will certainly get lower funds
to manage the household. Hence she needs to adhere to strict fiscal discipline
in order to manage the household budget effectively.
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