Kathmandu. Lawmaker Padma Aryal accused the government of imposing unnecessary burden on the general public to benefit tobacco and tobacco entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the discussion on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in the House of Representatives on Thursday, she claimed that there were serious irregularities in the budget formulation process. Stating that budgetary was the most shameful and serious economic crime in history, she said that the tax rates were changed in the middle of the night due to the influence of a limited interest group.

According to her, tax on tobacco products has been reduced for the first time in Nepal despite the worldwide trend of increasing tax on tobacco products giving priority to public health. “The light of the huts of the poor people has been taken away to feed the tobacco traders. We have reduced the tax on tobacco and cigarettes and compensated for this by imposing tax on household electricity,” she said.

Lawmaker Aryal said that the economy is run only on the basis of statistics but also on the basis of psychological confidence, adding that although the size of the budget is big, it has failed to accept the real economic condition of the country. The Finance Minister went on to say that the present government has not yet understood the basic character of Nepal’s economy while reviewing the nine budgets of the post-republican period.

Though the words and concept of the budget are attractive, its actual basis is weak, she said. “My question to the government is, what is the main engine of this budget? Agriculture, tourism, water resources or information technology? Which sector is trying to make the economy dynamic?” she questioned.

Stating that although agriculture has been prioritized, no effective programmes have been seen as per the claim that agriculture has been prioritized, she said that the government has given a message that it has continued remittance-based economy rather than production increase and self-reliance.

He said that the budget has also ignored poverty alleviation. “The word ‘poverty’ has not been mentioned in the entire budget. The government talks about the development of the middle class, but how can the middle class expand without uplifting 20 percent of the people living under the poverty line?” she questioned.

Aryal said that the budget has adopted a policy of widening the gap between the haves and have-nots rather than uplifting the lower class. According to him, the budget is not going to reduce economic inequality, but to increase it.