Its a overwhelming vote in favour of Finance Minister P Chidambaram scrapping Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) and cutting back on the banking cash transaction tax (BCCT).An online poll on the question - Should Finance Minister P Chidambaram scrap perks tax in the upcoming Union Budget 2006? - on 15 February - saw an overwhelming 62% vote for withdrawing the levy.A similar sentiment is being echoed in the on-going Tell The FM series on the website now.Saurab, in his online posting, said: "FBT should be eliminated, and a lot of things are expected." Sunder said: "Remove FBT and cash withdrawal tax." Atulya commented: "Hope the FM will do away with FBT and BCCT this time. The taxes were like penalties on our money."So, there... can we expect action on FBT/BCCT?A number of citizens are also expecting the FM to provide tax breaks for small car owners on the lines provided for home loans. P Dwarakanathan, in his posting, said: "Please consider tax exemption for car loans taken by individuals similar to housing loans. Hope you will consider my suggestion." A view also echoed by Saravanan Shanmugam.Shanmugam also expressed hope that an independent regulatory authority with more autonomy for ports would be announced in the budget. "More investment on primary and high school education. Make sure the state governments adhere to strict timeline in implementing projects. Otherwise, make sure they don't get the funds," he added.Susanta Bhattacharya had a different concern - how to provide tax relief to government employees. "How to provide relief to govt. employees from tax burden since the tax is deducted from source? So, no malpractice they can do. Big businessmen do malpractice in paying tax to the government. Catch them and India will automatically shine," Bhattacharya said.Pramod Ahuja, writing in from London, has asked the FM to liberalise FDI in the banking, retail and all other sectors that are currently restricted or partially restricted. "Please re-commence the privatisation initiative as it seems to have come to a grinding halt. India is the talk of the town here in London. Please continue to ensure that it remains so by moving forward on the reform agenda," Pramod added.Rajinder Kumar has a very specific demand - bring down customs duty on computerised embroidery machines. "CVD at 16% should be abolished. There is no CVD on sewing machines. If we want to take advantage of the quota-free regime in garments and textiles, garment and textile machinery should be less taxed," Rajinder added.Expectations of more tax breaks on home loans, reduction in service tax, hike in tax-free limit on bank deposits.... the list is growing.Keep writing in with your comments and suggestions.Business Standard will try and ensure that the FM and his team has a final dekko before the B-Day - February 28, 2006!
