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Smoke this! Tobacco to see heavy tax dose
Tobacco products in the country are in for a heavy levy of taxes \"because of health concerns\" in the upcoming budget, which would also see social welfare sectors, including education and healthcare, getting a major overhaul with massive hike in the allocations to the same.
New Delhi: Tobacco products in the country are in for a heavy levy of taxes "because of health concerns" in the upcoming budget, which would also see social welfare sectors, including education and healthcare, getting a major overhaul with massive hike in the allocations to the same.
This indication was given by the Union government in its pre-Budget consultative talks with representatives of Social Sector Groups here on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by the top bureaucrats of key ministries like Finance, Revenue, Education, Family Welfare and Women and Child Care.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who addressed the meeting, set extensive social welfare system as one of the major priorities of his government with focus on better education and effective healthcare, especially for the children, women and senior citizens of the country.
Speaking at a pre-Budget consultative meet, a third one in a row, here on Saturday, he said as the allocation of resources to the Social Sector by the government was increasing with time, the need of the hour was to bring substantial changes in Social Sector through better policies and their timely implementation. He was speaking to the representatives of different Social Sector Groups.
Jaitley further said the inclusive growth was high on the priority of the present government and the government would take adequate measures to ensure social security for all especially for the vulnerable section of society including the children, women and senior citizens of the country.
Most of the Social Sector representatives gave different suggestions to the Finance Minister for the forthcoming Union Budget 2017-18.
Major suggestions include increasing allocation to Social Sector schemes and to create a mechanism to monitor proper implementation of all such schemes.
It was suggested to monitor to ensure that the schools have access to safe drinking water & sanitation. Other suggestions include more focus in the Budget on healthcare for the workers especially those working in mining sector etc.
It was also suggested that vacancies of Doctors, nurses and teachers must be filled so that these public services remain unaffected.
There is strong need to strengthen quality of primary and secondary education in the country. It was also suggested that all the tobacco products should be highly taxed primarily because of health concerns.
