mumbai cigarettes and other tobacco products cheaper imfl alcohol brands and strong beer are set to get more expensive following finance minister ajit pawars budget for 201314 which was announced on wednesday gold silver diamonds precious metals and jewellery made from these items will also be costlier pawar sought to do a balancing act between giving relief for rural areas in a drought year while also ensuring there werent too many additional burdens before 2014 an election year in mumbai landlords and tenants will see stamp duty for more expensive accommodations going up however if the security deposit for the flat stays low the stamp duty can be controlled confident of widening the tax net the state government envisages its tax recoveries to increase from rs 600 crore last year to rs 1050 crore tax on cigarettes goes up by 5 and unbranded tobacco by 125 cheaper imfl brands will see a whopping 25 excise duty hike while strong beer will face higher excise of up to 43 the tax on gold precious metals and associated jewellery will go up by 01 the tax said pawar is for a year only and the money will be channelled for drought mitigation measures the state hopes to mop up rs 175 crore here another rs 150 crore is to be raised by increasing the purchase tax on sugarcane sugarcane factories utilize 70 of irrigation and must pay for drought measures said pawar the cost of cosmetics and shampoos classified as medicines herbal products will also go up as the government has levied 125 tax on these items the good news is that the cost of many essentials remains unchanged these include tea rice wheat pulses and flour turmeric tamarind jaggery fenugreek papads currants and raisins wet dates solapuri blankets and towels the cost of heart implants will go down as vat has been reduced from 125 to 5 flavoured and toned milk will be cheaper too along with stamp papers purchased from governmentauthorized vendors students who have a hobby of collecting stamps envelopes and firstday covers will now no longer have to pay tax on the philatelic goods the overall budget at rs 18 lakh crore is rs 20000 crore more than last years rs 16 lakh crore budget however there were no big ticket projects in fact the outlay for development rs 46938 crore increased by a paltry rs 1938 crore over last years budget the economy is expected to grow at 71 according to the state economic survey the aim is to ensure that the middle class is not unduly burdened with taxes even as drought mitigation measures are taken up said pawar there were no significant new taxes the ruralcentric budget gave mumbai no more funds just assurances that ongoing infrastructure projects worth rs 5000 crore will be commissioned during the year there was no mention of the local body tax lbt which replaces octroi either chief minister prithviraj chavan said 20 municipal corporations had already moved to the