new delhi finance minister arun jaitleys maiden budget on thursday is expected to be a tightrope walk of trying to meet demands for tax sops especially from the middle class and pursuing fiscal prudence to spur investment and growth the budget for 201415 will be presented by the new bjpled government which rode to power on promises of providing relief to inflationhit common man amid falling growth stagnating investments high fiscal deficit and external crisis there are high hopes from the new government that it will raise tax slabs and also significantly hike the annual tax exemption limit to provide a muchneeded relief to salaried class which is reeling under the stubbornly high inflation for boosting investment jaitley is expected to announce tax incentives for industry as a prelude to the budget the government has already extended the excise duty concessions for automobile and consumer durable sectors till december the finance minister is also expected to take a call on reducing duties on gold import which were increased last year to check ballooning current account deficit he could also provide relief to farmers to help them tide over the impact of deficient monsoon which could lead to fall in agricultural output the government may set up a price stabilisation fund as promised in the bjps manifesto on the other hand jaitley though not a hardcore economist is expected to pursue the path of fiscal prudence and not sacrifice it at the altar of populism he has already indicated that the government will have to refrain from mindless populism if you indulge in mindless populism you burden the exchequeryou convert yourself into a high taxation society it does not work therefore if you have to follow a path of fiscal prudence you should have a certain amount of discipline jaitley had said recently setting the tone prime minister narendra modi recently hinted at tough actions in the budget i am well aware that my steps may dent the immense love that the country has given to me but when my countrymen would realise that these steps would result in getting the financial health back then i will regain that love if these tough measures were not taken the financial situation would not improve we need to take action wherever required we will have to take tough and bitter financial decisions to put the country on the path to good fiscal health modi recently said in goa budget may be harsh on smokers as excise duty on cigarettes and tobacco products is expected to go up at the same time the government may impose higher tax on people earning more than rs 10 crore annually india inc has already presented its wish list during the customary prebudget meeting to jaitley while the issues of common man have been put forward by various stakeholders including trade unions and other bodies in order to provide clarity and improve investor sentiment to foreign investors there would be reference to retrospective tax amendment in budget the