Thomas Isaac the Finance Minister of Kerala, in his first budget has presented in the assembly where he imposed 14.5 per cent “junk tax” on the popular fast-food items like pizzas, burgers, tachos, doughnuts, sandwiches, pasta, bread fillings, burger patties and other food provided by branded restaurants.
He expects to raise Rs. 10 crore out of this.
The major cities of the state like Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram are all famous as home to the popular branded restaurants and this taxation comes out at a time when the popular American burger chain, Burger King has opened its first outlet in the state at Kochi last month.
As Isaac has taxed the junk food, he has appeared to hit the ordinary man by further imposing a five percent tax on food items like maida, atta and rava, a measure which he expects to bring in Rs 50 crore to the exchequer.
Thomas Isaac the Finance Minister of Kerala
Isaac has said that, thus his decision to impose five percent tax on coconut oil and also use the entire proceeds to help the coconut farmer in Kerala, as by increasing a support price from Rs. 25 to Rs. 27.
But as expected the new generation segment of the Kerala society was not that happy with the decision as they know they will have to pay more for their favorite meals.
J.R. Padmakumar the State BJP spokesperson has said one fails to understand his logic through these flip-flop measures, while on the other hand Congress leader Bindu Krishnan said it’s unfortunate that the minister has hiked the tax on the common man’s food items like maida, atta and rava.
