49% want taxes reduced to minimise demonetisation impact

     Written by : IANS | Fri, Jan 27, 2017, 12:42 PM

49% want taxes reduced to minimise demonetisation impact

New Delhi, Jan 27: Forty-nine percent of the more than 100,000 respondents in a survey ahead of the Union budget for 2017-18 said the government should reduce taxes to minimize the impact of demonetization.

Thiry-three percent of the respondents in the survey, conducted by citizen engagement platform Local Circles, said taxes on digital transactions should be dropped.

On the question on what should be the top priority on relief in income tax for citizens, 55 percent said that the minimum income to be taxed should be increased whereas 37 per cent said that income tax rates for individuals should be decreased.

The poll was conducted across 200 districts of India and covered areas like income tax, government spending and allocation, Sawchh Bharat cess, startups, railways, pollution, healthcare and education.

The survey also said that 89 percent of the citizens want the government expenditure on healthcare should increase to bring it at par with international standards, with 40 percent saying that the investment should be used for improving infrastructure at existing government hospitals.

In another poll, 58 percent said that government's top priority in education expenditure should be to improve governance and number of government schools whereas 32 percent surveyed said that it should be used to improve infrastructure in existing government schools.

When asked about controlling the menace of pollution, 36 percent of those surveyed said that they wanted the government to aggressively fund the public transportation system to reduce pollution.

In an interesting response, 37 percent of those surveyed said that the Rs 6,900 crore ($1 billion) collected through Swachh Bharat cess should be used to engage citizens and municipality in maintaining cleanliness, while 30 percent said it should be used to build toilets and ensure their maintenance.

According to 18 percent of respondents said the money should be invested in municipal infrastructure, while 15 percent voted in the favour of civic reforms and upgrades.

On the railways, 47 per cent of respondents wanted safety to be the top priority in 2017 and 24 per cent said wanted improved services and amenities.

For 15 per cent, the priority was cleanliness and 14 percent said the priority should be improving the on-time performance of trains.