<B>A SO-CALLED</B> sunshine budget is the usual public expectation, the minister of Finance would have to note when considering the common man?s lament. It has already been suggested that there would be much in the new budget for the common man. However, a government budget is not all about ?goodies? which would warm the cockles of every heart but is, essentially, an income and expenditure plan for the coming year.

Over the past three years we have had an economy on the mend and this needs to be welcomed, but the public lament has been almost interminable that the cost of living has been registering a steady rise. Goods and services may be aplenty but they are not all available at purse-easy prices. It is an open question whether this huge gain has translated into what has been referred to as ?peace dividend?.

The principal reason for this is the rising cost of living and the accompanying hardships felt by the majority of salary and wage earners. The cost of living burden is no longer felt by only the impoverished sections but by also the middle and lower middle classes.

The continued imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) has helped considerably in aggravating the cost of living burden of the people.

Although the public was given to understand initially that VAT wouldn?t be imposed indiscriminately, this indirect tax is tending to figure in most transactions of ordinary people. In the case of imported goods in particular, VAT is proving to be a striking feature. I consider it incumbent on us to call for some relief from taxes such as VAT which are proving a significant component of a consumer?s expenditure.

Perhaps, this also has to do with State regulation of the prices of goods and services. The open market is a happy hunting-ground for unscrupulous exploitative traders, who are ever keen on making the proverbial American fast buck. The common ruse is to blame price rises in respect of most consumer goods on VAT. The consumer is thus duped into parting with his hard-earned rupees on goods whose prices are unrealistically inflated.

On the other hand, not all business enterprises are believed to be paying the State what is due to it. It is well known that the tax net is not intact in all places. This is a sad state of affairs, which should be remedied without further delay. Today great inequalities of wealth are a bleeding wound in the body politic. Healing this wound could restore the country?s moral health too.

Ahmad MACKY