To round off pre-budget series here is a SPOOF of the Finance Minister's Budget speech

Madam Speaker,

I rise to present the Union Budget for 2112-13

We are reaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year. In a globalised world with its share of uncertainties and rapid changes, this year brought us some opportunities and many challenges as we moved ahead with steady steps on the chosen path of fiscal consolidation and high economic growth.

Our growth in 2111-12 has been very good. All industries have shown great growth. We have witnessed over 15% growth and are truly shining as the world's best economy

We have been able to keep inflation at a low of 0.2% all through the year

Overview of the Economy

The Economy has been in healthy condition and shows great promise for the year ahead. We have made great progress in Agriculture and Industry and our monetary policies have ensured that the economy has been robust. The external sector has shown great promise with 70% of revenues coming from

The first thing an average citizen of India thinks about before any Government Budget is about his/her personal income tax. Discussions during and immediately following the Budget presentation by the Finance Minister is also about income tax slabs and the tax savings instruments. But is the budget presentation only about income tax?

Income Tax

As an "Aam Aadmi" all we know is about our own income and the tax related to it. So it is no wonder that one is curious if not serious about the money that one could retain for himself/herself out of the total income. Traditionally too the Budget presentations have gone into the details of the personal income tax and corporate income tax changes.

Government Budget — Income

The Government Budget however is not just about income tax. It is very similar to our household budget, which has both income and expenses. The government gets its income from the taxes it charges. This comes in different forms: Direct tax and Indirect taxes. Direct taxes are

Respected Finance Minister Sir, as a salaried employee, I voice the feeling of all the salaried in India. The one pain that we all face is because of the feeling that we are the highest taxed people of the country as all our income is transparent and the tax is almost always deducted at source.

Tax Slabs

Sir, my first request is to increase the tax slabs significantly. The current entry level slab and the gap between the higher levels are too low. Today a carpenter or electrician asks for Rs.750 a day as minimum wage. This means that he will make Rs.15,000/- even if he works for 20 days in a month. He goes without taxes or TDS. On the other hand if a salaried person touches the Rs.1.8 lakhs per annum slab he is taxed on his income.

Please increase the initial slab for income tax to Rs.5 lakhs. Make it atleast Rs. 3 lakhs. Also let the higher slabs have significant gap between them. As history has proven earlier, the less pain there is to pay taxes; more people will voluntarily pay