A 20/20 View of Budget 2000

A budget is a complex policy statement and, therefore, needs a framework to be evaluated. The approach taken in this paper is broadly twofold. First, I have evaluated the tax and expenditure proposals of the budget in the light of known and accepted tenets of the theory of fiscal reform. Second, I have attempted to understand some macroeconomic implications of the budget making some reasonably realistic assumptions about how the policy scenario might unfold. I have also tried to indicate the policy challenges that will emerge in this scenario and the shortcomings of what I expect the policy response to be as well as what I perceive to be the desired course of action.