It has been reported that the government proposes to raise import duties on 35 items, in a bid to slash imports and contain the current account deficit. This is the path to economic inefficiency, lost revenue and a thriving underworld that prospers on smuggling. The forthcoming Budget is an occasion to show boldness in vision and policy and regain India’s lost growth momentum. That means lower, simplified, preferably uniform rates of import duty and low, enforceable rates of tax on income in the hands of earners and sophisticated mining of data generated by the Goods and Services Tax (GST), to widen the tax base.
