Why don't we feel wealthy when she says we are?

The steady increase n GST collections since September is a result of heightened economic activity and rising commodity prices," wrote Shreejay Sinha. "GST collections crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the fifth month in a row in February, rising 7% to Rs 1.13 lakh crore (Rs 1.13 trillion), indicating economic recovery, the Finance Ministry said on Monday." GST collection was Rs 1.19,875 trillion in January. "The gradual recovery is a result of consumption revival, but private expenditure is missing. Consumption-led recoveries tend to be short-lived." "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the fiscal measures taken by the government have resulted in positive growth of 0.4 percent in the third quarter of the current financial year." "Lower inflation has increased the real purchasing power of the people leaving more money in their hands to spend," she said. Indeed. "In city India, 63% of shoppers fall within the 'newly constrained' class, dealing with a decline in family incomes, or a worsening of monetary scenario, which has prompted them to observe their bills," reported News Matters. "In India, the share of 'newly constrained' is greater than the worldwide common of 46%, the NielsenIQ on-line survey discovered." "Price of domestic cooking gas, LPG has doubled to Rs 819 per cylinder in the last seven years while taxes on petrol and diesel has swelled collections by over 459 percent, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday." "According to the 2015-16 National Family and Health Survey (NHFS), only 6% of households in India owned a car or truck while the share of households owning a motorized two-wheeler is significantly higher at 38%," wrote Vineet Sachdev. "Let us say that the government gained 100 rupees each from taxes on petrol and diesel respectively. The end usage data indicate that 60% (i.e. Rs 60) of this total tax collected on petrol was paid by the two-wheeler owners while only Rs 37 was paid by the car owners. In case of diesel the data suggest that for every 100 rupees gained by taxes, Rs 13 is paid by the agricultural sector while commercial vehicles (including buses and trucks) have paid Rs 38 of total increased taxes. This is bound to get passed on to the non-rich who use these for public transport or via increased transportation cost of goods. Private car owners would have paid Rs 28.5 in taxes." "Rising fuel expenses are having a cascading effect on manufacturing costs across sectors, which is resulting in higher prices for the end consumer," reported The Times of India. Petrol and diesel are not covered by the goods and services tax (GST) which gives credit for input taxes, so any rise in prices de to increased transport costs will be taxed under GST as well, thus magnifying the rise in prices. "By January 1 this year, jet fuel prices had shot up to Rs 40,783 at Delhi's T3 and Rs 39,267 at Mumbai, and there have been multiple tax hikes thereafter as well." "The latest data available with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) showed that a total of 10,113 companies were struck off under Section 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, in the current financial year till February. The Section 248(2) implies that the companies had shut their businesses voluntarily and not due to any penal action." In short, they failed. Assuming even 5 employees per company, that is at least 50,000 people unemployed. The Finance Minister maybe ecstatic that she has made every Indian very wealthy. Pity we don't feel it.