Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji on Wednesday presented a budget for 2008-09, which was expectedly populist coming as it does in an election year. The elections to the Assembly is less than nine months away.While a series of sops were announced, no new taxes were imposed. Presenting his fifth consecutive budget, Raghavji tried to please all sections of the society. In an interesting announcement, the BJP Government has proposed to equate MISA detainees with freedom fighters by offering them similar pensions and health facilities. The detainees who spent six months or more in jail during the Emergency will get a pension of Rs 6,000 while those imprisoned for three to six months will get Rs 3,000. The revenue surplus budget of Rs 2839.78 crore promises to spend Rs 6,000 crore on various schemes in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region. The schemes will increase the area irrigated by Government facilities from 13 to 44 per cent. Salaried taxpayers who earn up to Rs 1.20 lakh per year will not have to pay any professional tax while those earning between Rs 1.20-1.50 lakh will have to pay Rs 1,000. Those earning between Rs 1.50-1.80 lakh will have to pay Rs 1,500. Constitution of State Pay Commission, giving DA on par with Central Government employees, and increase in honorarium of Anganwadi workers and assistants were other sops announced for employees. Borrowing a leaf from Chhattisgarh, Raghavji announced that BPL families would be given cheap foodgrains. Beneficiaries will get a kg of wheat at Rs 3 and rice at Rs 4.50 a kg. Earlier, they paid Rs 6.50 and Rs 4.50, respectively. The largesse will cost the exchequer Rs 160 crore.VAT on diesel was slashed by 1 per cent to make it 25 per cent. “We have done our bit to reduce inflation,” Raghavji said. To encourage the sale of used cars within the state, VAT on old and used cars was reduced from 12.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent. In all, reduction in VAT rates will lead to a revenue loss of Rs 119.33 crore.Foreign liquor, beer and rectified spirit will become costlier because the excise duty has been partly increased. The Government estimates revenue expenditure of Rs 31,564 crore in 2008-09 and revenue receipts of Rs 34,403.78 crore. The plan expenditure budget of Rs 15,634 crore for 2008-09 is 15.13 per cent more than the last fiscal’s expenditure.
