The Hindu Business Line : Get this before the Budget gets you

IT'S been a week since the Budget was out and there are nagging questions which are multiplying by the hour as more programmes are on air and people read more articles about how and why what Jaswant would hit where and whom.

What do I get out of the Budget?

So, you've been conned by the word. In fact, the right name for what finance ministers do should be bud-take, but they discarded the word because it didn't sound okay. Nobody likes to give things away, so they disapproved the alternative, bud-give, though in the end it is the taxpayer who gives and the exchequer takes. The right question, therefore, to rephrase what JFK said, would be — "Don't ask what you get out of the Budget, but see what it can get out of you."

Correct me if I am wrong, `what I see is what I get', right?

That is WYSIWYG if you are computer buff, to mean the machine's capability to give on the printer what you see on the screen. If the print preview shows something, you can safely assume it would come the same way on paper. When this rule fails, the corollary takes over, which is WYGIWYD, meaning `what you get is what you deserve'. With regard to budgets, there is a third acronym: WYHINWYGU — `what you hear is not what you get ultimately'. Have anything better?

They say he is putting faith in people. How to trust him?

It is para 144 in his speech where he talks about faith in his countrymen and women. There he stands stripping the Tax Department of its high-handed powers and opening the `green channel' to people, which is like handling a hostage drama where the negotiator has to go unarmed, putting faith in what the terrorists assure. A corollary to such a regime could be a gradual tightening of penalties, to punish those who misused the trust route.

As auditor, I give `true and fair' opinions. Won't I get more deduction if I called my income `royalty' rather than `audit fee'?

That's how the accountant's brain works. Neither left, nor right, but crookedly. I know you are spinning fiction, but should you say that? Next, there will be the demand from journalists that their employer could pay them not salary, but royalty for stories filed. With elections round the corner, more people would join the ranks of authors — even those who write political speeches. In due course, Jaswant would notice that he has opened the floodgates of author-dom and an amendment would throw even the genuine authors out with bathwater.

I have a doubt about debt swap. Will the debtor become creditor?

No, it is not as radical as gender change. What the Finance Minister is discussing is the replacement of high-cost debt with low-cost one. Suppose you lent me at 14 per cent interest, but the rates have now fallen and are at eight per cent, I come to you and say, take back the old loan and give me a new loan at the reduced rate. You may agree if you see that the high burden is breaking my back and I may turn an NPA if you didn't accede to my idea.

Walking stick is cheaper now. What do you suggest?

Perhaps you want to buy and stock a few for future use. Not a bad idea because when you grow old, you may not have money to afford one.

hindubusinessline@hotmail.com

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