Kochi: Come April, rising prices of essential commodities will be stretching household budgets in Kerala with the state government adopting belt-tightening measures and devising strategies to make all sections of society share the pains of the recent flood havoc.
Families will have to exercise judicious restraint over spending on luxurious items, especially on homemade cake and ice cream. For, all ingredients going into these items will turn costlier as one per cent ‘Flood Cess’ will be levied on goods coming within the GST tax bracket of 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.
The additional cess will be applicable to condensed milk, chocolate, ice cream, sauce, jam etc. As a result, price of packaged food products will increase sharply.
Apart from cooking and grocery items, one will have to shell out more for daily-use products such as bathing bar and toothpaste that come under the 12 per cent and 18 per cent GST tax slabs.
Homemakers will have to exercise a little extra care while handling home appliances like washing machine, microwave oven, dish washer, refrigerator etc in order to prolong their life span to the maximum. For, one will have to pay the additional cess to purchase any of these aforementioned household items. The Flood Cess will be imposed on a wide range of products including television, computer, electrical appliances such as LED bulbs and switches as well.
With the introduction of the state budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, stainless steel kitchenware and utensils will also turn costlier. It simply means one will have to control the urge to splurge on latest models of footwear and bags that will attract one per cent cess. Also, if you do not control your instincts to spend on beauty products, it may upset your monthly household budget.
