Principal Chief Advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister, Amit Mitra, on Saturday slammed the Centre for presenting an “irresponsible” Union Budget 2024-25, asserting that it was “ineffective” in addressing the country’s economic challenges.

Mitra claimed that the Budget has “failed to tackle unemployment and misled the public with subsequent amendments to its proposals”.

“Why am I calling it irresponsible? The Finance Ministry made a lot of amendments to the budget proposals. So, were they wrong? There has been a somersault on LTCG and indexation,” he said.

“If whatever they were doing was for a simplified tax regime, then why the somersault within 72 hours or within a week?” he wondered.

Property owners would heave a sigh of relief and market sentiments would improve with the Centre deciding to give taxpayers the option to choose between the new 12.5 per cent long-term capital gain (LTCG) tax rate and the old 20 per cent rate with indexation benefit for assets purchased before July 23, according to industry bodies.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who in her budget for 2024-25 proposed to cut LTCG tax to 12.5 per cent from 20 per cent but without the indexation benefit, moved an amendment to the bill to give the option. Indexation benefits allow taxpayers to arrive at property cost after adjusting for inflation.

Accusing the government of “shirking its responsibility”, the principal chief advisor to the West Bengal chief minister, pointed out that the budget relied heavily on the private sector to generate employment, citing the “unrealistic expectation” of 500 companies absorbing 2 lakh interns each year as an example.

He also highlighted a “decline” in overall consumption growth, household savings, LPG subsidy, and food subsidy, along with a “drop in average monthly income” for both regular and self-employed workers.