Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday hinted at more spending cuts and rationalising expenditure.
The additionally hinted spending cuts would be over and above 10 percent that the government has already announced to meet the budgeted 4.1 percent fiscal deficit target which was crossed in November itself -- four months ahead of the end of the financial year on March 31.
He further said no unfair effort will be made by the government to collect taxes.
In the current fiscal, the government has budgeted to collect over Rs 13.6 lakh crore as tax revenue, which requires a 16 percent growth in direct taxes and 20 percent growth in indirect taxes to meet the target.
Power, energy, railway and ports are high-priority sectors for the government, added FM.
Jaitley also underlined the need to increase level of public spending for development of infrastructure.
The direct tax collection during the first nine months of the current financial year increased by 12.93 percent to Rs 5.46 lakh-crore over the corresponding period a year ago.
