Dear FM, here are 8 things that the Aam Aurat wants from your Budget

During one of their recent weekly coffee meet, Miraya (a business woman), Manjushree (a homemaker) and Mansha (IT Professional- salaried person) who are childhood friends, found themselves deviating from the usual topics of discussion ranging from which diamond jewelry to buy or the deciding the next vacation destination or the usual maid crises to discuss more on the pressing need of every Aam Aurat i.e. money & finance. Below is a gist of their quirky conversation based on the upcoming union budget impacting the aam aurat:-

Miraya (businesswoman): 
Friends, I think all the discussion and the intention behind the 'Make in India' campaign of our newly formed government is going to make India emerge as a global manufacturing center helps in creating more jobs but I sincerely believe that before we move on with “Make in India” campaign a lot should be done for the people who “Make for India”. Government should boost our local SME (small & medium enterprises) sector, manufacturing to IT sector first with the easy access of a low cost finance schemes to a lesser rate of interest rates and an easy process of setting up the businesses and start up units.
As we all know friends, that oil prices are one of the main driving force behind most of the things affecting the inflation in our daily lives i.e. right from the fuel cost of transportation to prices of vegetables/fruits to other raw materials. But in spite of the oil prices going south direction, still the benefit is not passed on to the people because the government is still increasing the excise duty on various products. Government should reduce the erstwhile excise duties and relax service tax norms so that businesswoman like me who runs a boutique or a saloon also gets a boost in our income with reduced operational cost, the benefits should percolate to all the levels and sectors.

Manjushree (homemaker): 
Well said, Miraya, and being a homemaker every penny saved is a penny earned for me and what I look forward from the budget is to reduce my pressure on account of an ever increasing inflation which has inflated the prices of basic necessities like food, LPG and other important household expenses like the cost of education for my children. It has been rising without any respite for quite a few years now. The various moves to run the economy (for instance rising petrol or LPG prices) ultimately affect me severely because it increases my day-to-day cost directly and indirectly.
As a homemaker, my job is to save whatever money I could and convert that savings in to some fruitful investments. Hence, I really hope our finance minister to take suitable measures to increase every homemaker’s savings by reducing the running costs and still maintaining a healthy lifestyle. He should introduce some sort of maternity medical expenses benefit either in taxation or as aid (by giving a certain amount of funds for meeting the hospital expenses of a delivery) and should also provide better education facilities such as rebate in education loans meant for a girl child in order to empower women.
I also have a strong suggestion in terms of husband paying salary to his wife and get tax benefit on it as an expense, which is tax deductible from his salary income or business expenses, this can be explored more and it is based on the fact that anyways husband has to pay for running the show hence something which is inevitable should be legally allowed and structured out in terms of multiple benefits.

Mansha (Salaried Person):
First time I agree with both of you Miraya & Manju and in fact I also seek and wish for many changes affecting people like me who are employed and for the overall benefits of a common people like us, my wish list is as follows:-

• Rise in Income Tax Slabs: In spite of the ever-rising prices across sectors and both direct and indirect taxes, the basic exemption limit is still more or less the same my expectation is to hike the basic exemption from the current Rs.2.50 lakhs to at least Rs.5 lakhs.
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• Investment limit: The present deduction available under Section 80C is upto Rs.1.50 lakh only and this in spite of rising inflation and income. The limit should be revised and increased to at least Rs. 3 lakhs keeping in mind disposable income, deflating value and purchasing power.
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• Savings account interest and new schemes: I also expect you to hike the limit of taxable interest earned from savings accounts and introduce some exclusive women-oriented government sponsored investment schemes wherein I can park my money.
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• Medical cost: Health is the biggest worry for me and you know the cost one has to incur on medical treatment in today’s time. I expect you to increase the exemption limits on medical treatment under income tax and also introduce world-class medical facility at no extra cost. Apart from that another small benefit in the form of the present exemption limit of Rs.15,000/- as far as medical reimbursement is concerned provided by an employer needs to revised to Rs. 50,000/- at least considering the cost of medical treatment for normal day to day illness at present.
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• Home loan Benefits and stamp duty charges: Fulfill my dream to own a house because over the last few years, real estate prices have shot up to a great extent and so has the amount of home loan we need to fund the purchase. Hence, limits for tax deduction on these counts should be increased with immediate effect. Similarly due to the rise in home loan amount, interest on the same has also gone up and current limit of tax benefit on interest amount up to Rs. 2 lakh should also be increased to match the rising inflation.
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• Tuition fees: The same goes for education cost, which is also increasing day by day. Budget should increase the available deduction under IT act or make a separate deduction for the same.
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• Infrastructure Bond: The deduction was available for investment under infrastructure bonds up to Rs.20,000/-. The deduction was not available in the last few years and the same should be reintroduced with the enhanced limit.
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• Re-Introduction of Standard Deduction: As of now, Salaried Employees are treated at part with Tax Payers who are self-employed and doing business of their own, while a businessmen enjoys tax deduction for the expenses incurred by them, there is no such benefit for the salaried employees. I wish that they should reintroduce the standard deduction for salaried class.

By this time, the waiter came up with the bill and they shook hands and promised to meet next week hoping to get their voices heard.

So, are you listening Mr Jaitely, open your potely and let the woman also have their share of fun too.