MP Sulabh Kharel Criticizes Budget, Compares Leaders to Mahabharata Characters

Kathmandu. MP Sulabh Kharel, commenting on the upcoming fiscal year's budget in parliament, humorously compared the political leadership to characters from the Mahabharata. He stated that the budget presented by the Finance Minister, amounting to 21 kharba 24 arab, is challenging and will test the Finance Minister. He made three main critical comments on the budget. Participating in the budget discussion, Kharel compared the current scenario to the battlefield of the Mahabharata. He described Balen Shah (Balen), who is in the role of Prime Minister, as the warrior Arjuna focused on his goal in the battlefield. Similarly, he portrayed party president Rabi Lamichhane as 'Shri Krishna' and Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle as 'Vidyur', who speaks the truth and thinks of the long-term interests of finance, governance, and morality. Kharel, who gave the Finance Minister the epithet of Vidyur, welcomed some positive aspects of the budget but severely criticized two main issues. Corporate Tax Burden on Small Companies Kharel's first criticism was regarding tax policy. He welcomed the move to reduce the income tax limit for natural persons to 1 percent in line with the policy to expand the middle class. However, he criticized the policy of imposing a 25 percent corporate tax and an additional 5 percent dividend tax on small companies earning up to 10 lakh. His argument was that this tax policy needs to be improved in the coming days to encourage small entrepreneurs, businessmen, and corporate culture. 3 Percent Education Tax Burdening Parents His second main criticism focused on the 3 percent tax imposed in the name of education and health equality fees. Kharel stated that this tax should be included in the fees charged by schools, and collecting it separately has directly affected 70 lakh parents. He said that this new tax has added an extra financial burden on parents, at a time when private schools are already being made to provide scholarships according to the law and are also being charged corporate tax. He also suggested that the amount collected from this 3 percent tax should not be directly deposited into the federal consolidated fund, but a separate fund should be created for the development of school infrastructure. Low Budget for the Judiciary In addition to these two main criticisms, Kharel expressed dissatisfaction that the 'Bill on Alternative Development Finance Mobilization' brought to increase capital expenditure proceeded without discussion in an expert house like the National Assembly. He drew the Finance Minister's attention to the fact that only 0.45 percent of the total budget has been allocated to implement the 21-point directive issued by the Chief Justice and for the reform of the judiciary, which is very low, and urged not to neglect the justice sector in the budget.