Viewing political debates on TV news channels is as easy as looking at the clouded sky overhead. However, avid viewers get little coverage of the country’s eroding economic scenario on our prominent news channels. Amid such a situation, we find only useless political issues discussed, which brings a poor impression.
This reason alone goads a news channel anchor to react ‘Kya sab changa si’ (is everything okay?) often. Why are the pressing economic issues discussed rarely? Why are fiscal matters avoided in these heated discussions frequently? When there is an evident fallout of price-rise on our essential daily commodities, it becomes critical to talk over the causes directing the constant hike in the prices of even the seasonal vegetables. It is correct to indicate that our political leaders remain least bothered about the rising prices, but the common people think a hundred times about the inflation.
From being continually expected to secure nicer ratings in direct tax collections to being shoved to outdo the prior fiscal figures, it has been year after year of documenting a horribly negative outcome. It looks as if the only objective of the Indian economy was to be practically a total disappointment in income and corporate tax collections till January end.
As the news informed, India’s corporate and income tax collection for the year 2019-20, fell by 10%, reaching around 10.4 lakh crores in the midst of a sharp decrease in the economic growth and cut in corporate tax rates in obvious terms. This figure comes as the first fall in at least the past two decades. This turns the functioning of even the most sophisticated of economists’ brains.
Undeniably, PM Narendra Modi-led central government targeted a direct tax collection of 13.5 lakh crores, a 17% increase from the previous financial year of 2018-19. This was mainly due to a sharp decline in demand, which has intensely hurt businesses. As a result, the entrepreneurs were forced to cut down investments, and this affected jobs too.
The disturbing thing is that the government has so far managed to collect merely 7.3 lakh crores per the reports issued by the tax department. Corporate tax comes into the category of the Direct tax. It is a government’s levy imposed upon a firm’s profit in general.
Though the government was prompted to bring about 5 % growth forecast for this fiscal year, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said that growth slowdown in India appeared to be temporary and expects within the same vein that there will be a positive change of momentum. It would be achieved surely as our leaders do not sleep much since they are mostly found to be working at the office. They do not, as is more often said, socialise much that is clear from their distancing from the Shaheen Bagh protesters. They prefer to devote most of their time to the office chores and meetings.
But how could it be in view of the inflationary trends possibly? Moving into the markets, the realisation about the price hike begins to tense the consumers despite the running of the season of discounts on varied items. Why do other states not come forward in following the financial model of Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP? Inflation is what restricts fairly to speculate five per cent growth in gross domestic product, a monetary value of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period as experts believe.