Veteran Congress leader and former union Finance Minister P Chidambaram took a dig at the Kerala government over the state budget for Fiscal year 2023-24.
In his tweet, he called the budget a ‘Faustian bargain’ asking the State finance Minister K N Balagopal to impose ‘notional taxes’ to tackle inflation in the state.
“Dear FM, Kerala: why don't you impose 'notional' taxes of ₹2000 crore and save yourself the trouble of spending ₹2000 crore to tackle inflation?” Chidambaram asked in a tweet.
The former Minister was referring to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government’s objective to reserve Rs. 2000 crore to contain inflation in the state while imposing a social security cess on the sale of fuel, liquor, motorcycles and electricity, leading to a possible surge in their price.
An addition of Rs 2 per litre of petrol and diesel, Rs 20 per bottle of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the price range of ₹500-999 and Rs 40 for each bottle costing above ₹1,000 was announced as part of social security cess in the budget.