In her first interview with AajTak after presenting the Union Budget earlier this week, Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about how the announcements and changes in tax slabs will help the country’s middle class.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government has made changes in the tax slabs in the recently presented Budget to benefit the middle class and working citizens of the country.
Speaking exclusively to AajTak, the Finance Minister said the annual allowance has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 to benefit the salaried class.
“The tax rate cuts in the recent Budget were made to benefit the middle class. If tax slabs are reduced, it also benefits higher income earners.
“A high-income person does not have to pay tax on Rs 7 lakh of his total income. He pays tax on the rest of his total income. This is how the normal taxation system works. The standard deduction has been increased from Rs 50,000. Those earning up to Rs 75,000 can get this benefit,” Sitharaman said.
The finance minister also informed that the government has announced concessional education loans up to Rs 10 lakh and concessions on affordable housing to help the middle class.
“We have introduced concessional education loans up to Rs 10 lakh for children of the middle class. Apart from this, we have also announced concessional interest rates for affordable home loans. We have also increased the liberalised remittance (LRS) for those who want to go abroad,” she said.
Sitharaman also said that the government aims to benefit the middle class through various schemes. “We are coming up with various schemes to benefit the middle class. It is not right to focus on a particular scheme or aspect. We have to work in various ways to reach out to them. They (middle class) should get more, but only I can give that,” the minister said.
Presenting her seventh consecutive budget on Tuesday, Sitharaman announced a small income tax relief for the middle class by raising the standard deduction – a flat deduction from the gross salary earned by an employee in a year before calculating the applicable income tax rate – to Rs 50,000 and changed tax slabs for taxpayers.
According to the proposal, income of Rs 3-7 lakh will be taxed at 5 per cent, Rs 7-10 lakh at 10 per cent and Rs 10-12 lakh at 15 per cent.
