"Budget must balance taxation, spending, borrowing"

New Delhi, Feb 20: Ahead of the national budget for the next fiscal, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha on Saturday said it was necessary to balance what the government manages to get as revenue, its spending and how much money it can raise from the market.

"Important to understand constraints of the government. Should we tax more, spend less or borrow more? Careful balance needed," Sinha tweeted.

He also attached a table, which showed the government expenditure for the fiscal year 2015-16 at Rs.17.8 lakh crore, the tax receipts at 12.2 lakh crore and a borrowing of Rs.5.6 lakh crore to meet the deficit.

"Analogy: A household that has an annual income of Rs.100, spending Rs.146, leading to borrowings of Rs.46 every year," he said, adding: "Question: Should we earn (tax) more, spend less or borrow more?"

Earlier, in post on Youtube, he said, the uplift of the poor, progress of farmers and employment for the youth will be the focus of the upcoming budget, which is due to be presented in the Lok Sabha, the upper house of parliament, on February 29.

"This budget will be a forward-looking budget that will ensure that India will continue to be a haven of stability and growth in a very turbulent and choppy global environment," the minister of state said in a rare message ahead of the annual exercise.

He had also said in a tweet on Friday that the present government has managed to kept prices in check. "The NDA government has been successful in contain inflation," he said, adding this was far less than the pace during the previous UPA regime.

Earlier, his boss and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke about facilitating tax payers.

The use of technology has gone a long way in helping taxpayers with 1.4 crore assessees notified and also paid their refunds using this medium, Jaitley said, ahead of the budget presentation for the next fiscal year.

"The government has been increasing using technology for the advantage of all tax payers and 1.4 crore, that is assessees, have been notified of their refunds and refunds have been given to them also using this very medium," he said.

IANS