Budget Talk: In & Out of Parliament

Women cheered, children danced and grown up men wept as the finance minister unveiled the federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Women and children cheered the cut in GST rate and relaxation of FED on soft drinks. The wailing men are of course Chaudhry Nisar and other members of the opposition.
As expected, the opposition used the session as a photo-op; shouting expletives, tossing bangles, hurling populist rhetoric and doing everything else under the sun except for debating core issues.
The biggest losers were the millions of countrymen who tuned in to state-television in the hopes of catching a shred of information about the government's strategy. To no one's surprise, it appears there is none.
How will FBR meet its revenue collection target of Rs 1952 billion, how will blanket subsidies be phased out or what targeted subsidies will replace these? All these questions were conveniently left out, presumably due to the parliamentarian's lack of appetite for constructive debate.
Last year, Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh used the podium to put the then Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar to sleep while delivering a crash course in Economics 101 to parliamentarians. This year he decided to give them a history lesson, instead of elaborating on the government's plan to limit the fiscal deficit to 4 percent of GDP.
Then again, what can be expected from a parliament that is closer to a fish market than an institution for national consensus? Judging by the fact that Hafeez Shaikh ended his speech with a couplet by Iqbal; apparently the next budget speech will be a lesson in poetry.
OUTSIDE THE PARLIAMENT:
"Err, I missed the budget...I don't think it's even important," grunted a business student when asked to comment on the budget.
While the indifference of a business student, for whom the budget is verily 'relevant', might make one sigh, the sentiment was a reflection of the overall sentiment of the masses, who were little interested in anything but the background hullabaloo in the parliament.
Speaking to BR Research, those who don't deem the budget worthy of their 'listening time', from business students (such as the one mentioned above) to 60-year olds, all respondents voiced their disappointment with the government and with the budget presentation as being "just another annual speech".
"I'm not interested in Pakistan's budget at all. There's nothing special in the rhetoric of incompetent, uncommitted people who barely understand what they talk about," said a 65-year old businessman.
Amongst those who followed the speech, those with loved ones working for the public sector were particularly interested in the gains they'd be taking away in the coming fiscal year. Salary increments for the upcoming year were the focal point for existing employees, while the retired people strained their ears for any increase in pension payments.
They didn't have to strain themselves for long though; as the Finance Minister announced a 15 percent increase in the salaries of government employees and a 15-20 percent increase in pension payments, soon after launching into his speech.
Amongst people who did pay heed to the overall budget rather than listening selectively, a majority expressed that the budget was an assortment of good and bad measures. Though the public were appreciative of the moves towards tax reforms, it did not go unnoticed that not much was said about the infamous agriculture tax.
As for expanding the tax base, one observer commented, "They say this every time, but we don't see much happening in this regard." "As always the government has set a revenue target which is only achievable in fairytales and the promise of expanding the tax net has been forgotten like an ex-girlfriend," said another.
So what good did they see in the budget? Apparently, some were pleased with the reduction in sales tax, believing it to lead to a fall in prices, even if it would be marginal. Other good tidings for commoners include the rise in minimum level of taxable annual income to Rs 350,000 and the 15-20 percent hike in salaries and pensions of government employees.
Overall, however, the masses found the budget speech a tad bland, best summarised in the words of one viewer, "it wasn't a revolutionary budget."