Will the finance minister (FM) oblige honest taxpayers with relief on taxes after a COVID-hit year? Or will she impose an additional cess to meet the swelling healthcare expenditure?

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Dinesh Kanabar, CEO of Dhruva Advisors and Ashok Wadhwa, Group CEO of Ambit spoke at length about what taxpayers should expect from the budget.

“It’s fair to say that everybody is extremely worried that whether it’s a cess or some sort of a surcharge, the government need to collect sources to be able to vaccinate people, and therefore there will be a levy,” said Wadhwa.

“However, I hope there is not. I would like to believe that the government will avoid the temptation of any cess or surcharge because that will have a negative impact on the sentiment that has been created post-pandemic which is essential for us to encourage private sector continue making investments and therefore create jobs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kanabar said that the budget must boost ease of doing business.

“If you are looking at ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, if you are looking at manufacturing moving to India, you already have rolled out the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Is that sufficient…,” he said.

For the entire discussion, watch the video

(Edited by : Anshul Majumdar)