Smokers and tobacco consumers will have to shell out more for their indulgence as finance minister Arun Jaitley continued with the crackdown on cigarettes and tobacco products by increasing taxes in the budget for 2017-18.
Jaitley, however, made an attempt to make it more affordable for clean energy sources by cutting duties on solar tempered glass, fuel cell-based power generating systems and wind operated energy generator.
The fine print shows that a host of things are likely to get both more expensive and cheaper.
Items such as LED lamps, solar panels, printed circuit boards for mobiles, micro ATMs, finger-print machines and Iris scanners will potentially become cheaper.
On the other hand, silver coins, cigarettes and tobacco, bidis, pan masala, goods imported through parcels, water filter membranes and cashew nuts will become dearer.
“Centre, through the Central Board of Excise and Customs, shall continue to strive to achieve the goal of implementation of GST (Goods and Services Tax) as per schedule without compromising the spirit of co-operative federalism,” he said while presenting the budget in Parliament on Wednesday.
“Implementation of GST is likely to bring more taxes both to central and state governments because of widening of tax net. I have preferred not to make many changes in current regime of Excise and Service Tax because the same are to be replaced by GST soon,” he added.
Overall though, Jaitley said his proposals on excise and customs duties will not result in any significant loss or gain to the exchequer.
{{/usCountry}}Overall though, Jaitley said his proposals on excise and customs duties will not result in any significant loss or gain to the exchequer.
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