Rationalising taxes
In the backdrop of a continuing slump in household consumption and subdued private sector investments, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could consider measures aimed at rationalising tax structure, tinkering specifically with the tax rates for lower income segments in the union budget 2024–25 to be unveiled soon.
Rationalising tax structure would help boost household consumption, thereby pushing private capital in consumer-focused sectors and providing a fillip to economic activity.
Along with a comprehensive review of existing tax systems in the country, GST rates also need to be rationalised, which now affects a wider segment of the population. Concerted measures to increase the tax base, reduce the tax burden, and ease compliance also brook no delay.
M Jeyaram
Sholavandan
Food worries
Apropos, ‘A volcano of food scarcity is waiting to explode’, (June 18). One of the most significant impacts of climate change is on our food system. It affects the way we produce as well as consume food.
The impact is even more on a predominantly agrarian economy like India. Climate change damages the crop, and food supply, prompting a phenomenal rise in the price of food products.
N Sadhasiva Reddy
Bengaluru
Polarised polity
Apropos the article ‘The paradoxes of polarisation’, (June 17),the author rightly portrays the fallacies perpetrated on our polity by the left vs right narrative and resultant intellectual corrosion by converging in their follies.
The supposed predominance of vociferous advocates of either side creates an eco-system that beats its own trumpet.
The author’s lament, “what worse fate can befall a society”, echoes the feelings of a vast majority of concerned citizens.
Jose Abraham
Vaikom (Kerala)