The budget has been brought forward. To entertain us?

The annual circus, called the Union Budget, has been brought forward by one month to 1 February. Which means it is just before assembly elections in 5 states, starting with Punjab and Goa on 4 February. Naturally, opposition parties see this as a cunning trick by the BJP to get some free airtime and a sly way of announcing handouts, to bribe voters. In 2013, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to frame a model code of conduct for political parties saying,"Freebies shake the root of free and fair elections to a large degree." The Model Code of Conduct of the Election Commission clearly states that,"All parties and candidates shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are 'corrupt practices' and offences under the election law, such as bribing of voters, intimidation of voters...." Following all this the Aam Aadmi Party won assembly election in Delhi in 2015 by promising 20,000 liters of water and 400 units of electricity free. Opposition parties went to the Supreme Court, seeking postponement of the budget till after the elections but the Court refused to hear the petition saying,"There is no urgency in it." We can only hope that the matter is heard before the budget has been read, and not after. Half of the budget, which gives last year's figures for government spending, revenue collection and fiscal and  current account deficit, is useful but the other half, which announces anticipated figures for the next year, is complete fantasy. The Finance Ministry cannot possibly have any idea what the price of oil will be, depends on what OPEC does, what the exchange rate of the rupee against the dollar, which determines the price of fuel and gold in India, will be or how our exports, little as they are, will fare, depending on monetary policies of central banks of other countries and on changes in visa rules, such as the H1B visas in the US. The natural tendency is to correct revenue collection on the higher side and so taxes are increased every year. Then, there is the Prime Minister who, in an effort to win the elections by neutralising black money of other parties, suddenly banned all high denomination notes in the country. When it was tried in Myanmar it led to severe inflation while the USSR may have broken up when it was imposed there. Retail inflation fell to 3.63% in November, because of a sharp drop in food prices, and the Finance Minister boasted of excess tax collection, based on very high excise duty on fuel. Excess direct tax is collected in advance and we have to file for refund. Last year there were claims for refund of over Rs 1.5 trillion. Those who forget to file for refund, due to old age or lack of knowledge, lose their money. Thus, the budget is really a con trick on the nation and should be restricted to a profit and loss account for the previous year. Just tell us how much more we have to pay in taxes and cut out the blather. Save us the headache.