History headline: The Union Budget, 1948 and now | The Indian Express

History headline: The Union Budget, 1948 and now | The Indian Express

Written by Shaji Vikraman |Updated: July 7, 2019 12:41:27 am

History headline: The Union Budget, 1948 and now

What the first Finance Minister said in the interim Budget of 1947-48 on market borrowings echoes even now. The government’s borrowing programme would be such as to enable it to obtain funds as cheaply as possible without in any way impacting the flow of investment into industry.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget (Source: PTI/File)

On July 5, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her first Budget levied extra tax on the super-rich — raising the surcharge for those with taxable income between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore from the existing 15 per cent to 25 per cent, and from 15 per cent to 37 per cent for those with income higher than Rs 5 crore. That may be good political messaging at a time of widening income inequality.