What Kurakkan uncle did last week was not too different from the daily morning ritual his grandfather once performed perhaps at Hambanthota beach. (Yes, those were the days of Silindu and Leonard Wolf, when toilets at rural houses were unheard of) First he made some unpleasant noises. Then we sensed a terrible ordour. Then he struggled too much to bring it out. Poor guy – eating too much Kurrakkan sometimes leads to constipation. Then having realized that it was too little delivered, he dashed to wash, without even bothering to cover his handy work. So it is there – still smelling as bad as ever.
That was Kurrakkan uncle’s war budget. I mean the one he read proudly, as if it were his own. Summarised in four words: All flatulence; no excrement. (Translated: All f@rt; no sh^t)
If you still insist a single word description pick from these: (a) unprofessional (b) hollow. P. B. Jayasundera uncle’s rather embarrassing exit looks like a great loss to Kurakkan. (By the way what our good ole Jayasundera uncle might be doing these days? He wanted some time for reading. Perhaps he should try ‘Kama Sutra’. He is not too late to produce an off-spring. Shouldn’t there be an heir to all the millions robbed from the state coffers?)
Anyway, back to Kurakkan uncle’s budget – yes, that pile of smelling thing.
Why is it unprofessional? Have a close look. Will any sensible person reduce one tax to increase another? Call him anything, but that is something our Jayasundera uncle would never have done. Might be a hora, but he is not that stupid. Sumith Abeysinghe uncle, who looks more like a participant of Sirasa TV’s ‘Punchi Pahe Man’ programme cannot come anywhere near.
VAT is reduced by 20%. Certainly government is going to lose a sizable portion of its revenue. Will it be covered by the tax imposed on imports? Hardly. Tax on non-essential items will bring down the consumption and thereby tax. Tax on essential items might give him some rupees, but coated with public wrath. Mothers are not going to take the rising infant milk food prices lightly – specially when the local production not adequate to meet the demand.
So who benefits from this strange tax regime? Perhaps the guy from whom Kurrakan uncles buys his ‘Amuda Lensu’. The rusted protectionist minds of the treasury officials figure out if they impose a tax of imported underwear, the market for ‘Amuda Lensu’ goes up. Wishful thinking. This is the same dead rope the socialist school of economists gave to Sirima Bandaranaike. Control imports; the local production will automatically go up. Control regime of 1970-77 virtually banned so many essential items. No apples, grapes, cheese or chocolates. No Coke or Fanta. Only Orange Barley (popularly pronounced ‘Orenjan Barli’). Sirima Bandaranaike devoured the rope and got drowned in the public revulsion, in 1977. Knowing the history so well, should Kurrakkan uncle take the same path?
Look at other proposals. 10% tax now applicable to mobile and CDMA phones is extended to cover fixed phones. What revenue can it bring? We may have not more than 800,000 fixed phones and half of them in government. Assume an average monthly bill of Rs. 500 for the rest. Then the monthly revenue from this tax will be 400,000 into Rs. 500 in to 10%. Rs. 20 million. What? Is that enough even for a single foreign visit of Minister Rohitha Bogollagama?
The rest is a series of subsidies, all SLFP governments traditionally offer. The only difference is this time they come in nano-packages, not mega or even buddy. They do not make any sense to people. What Rs. 560 buys today? That might cover cost of lunch maximum for ten days a month. I guess even a beggar earns more than that per day! Does Kurakkan uncle expect the retirees to live like tramps in the streets?
Finally, the fuel prices. You do not need a budget to reduce them. If there is a formula, why bring it to budget speech? Further, a government which increased a petrol liter by nearly Rs. 100 in three years when prices do up has more moral obligation than offering a Rs. 15 reduction when the crude oil price is nearly half what it was two months ago. But, after all, this is Kurakkan government.
By the way, yesterday we celebrated the 41st death anniversary of Don Alwin Rajapakse – a junior Minister of his days. A great man. Someone who has done great things for the country. He could have done definitely more for the country if he cared to use some rubbers.
