R Sasidharan
Wake up Mr. Finance Minister…
It is almost three years since Modi Government sat in the saddle. The people of India have a lot of expectations from this Government as compared to the previous ones and the whopping majority.
I will, no doubt, give a thumbs up for a number of initiatives the Government has undertaken, viz.,
1) Convincing the upper and higher middle class to give up the subsidy on LPG and making this facility available to poor families
2) Tax reform in the form of GST
3) Swacha Bharath Abhiyaan
4) Jan Dhan Yojana
5) Prime Minister’s Pension and Insurance schemes for the poor
6) Demonetisation drive – a bold step, but, ended up with utter confusion in implementation and totally failure
On the direct tax front, the Government is still sleeping on the suggestions for reforms and continue to trouble the honest tax payer while allowing the tax evaders to enjoy life as usual.
The long awaited and deliberated Direct Tax Code is nowhere to be seen.
In bringing the tax evaders into the tax net, it is clear that the Government lacks sincerity for obvious reasons.
Though the Modi Government pats its back for scrapping age-old, obsolete Acts/Rules, it has done nothing to do the same with the age-old direct tax rules. As a salaried tax payer, the immediate ones that comes to my mind are (1) Tax exemption on Education Allowance of Rs.100/- per month per child, for 2 children, (2) Leave Travel Allowance rules restricting the exemption to domestic travel expenses and only for TRAVEL and that too, twice in a block of four years, (3) tax on Gratuity and Leave Encashment on retirement, etc.
The Government’s treatment of salaried class has always been step-motherly and it continues to be so in comparison to self-employed professionals.
It is high time that the Government realise that its own policies are the biggest culprits in inducing the general public to evade tax. Let the Government opens up itself and be transparent and the common man will be more than happy to part with his hard-earned money as tax.
(Republished With Amendments)
Dearness allowance is granted to pensioners based on consumer index to compensate the erosion of value of pension due to cost of living rise. Then why it is added to pension for calculating income tax. Due to wrong policies inflation increases for which why penalyse pensioners. When BJP was as opposition party its leader Yashwant Sinha recommended for raising IT EXEMPTION from 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh. But after getting elected on this promise BJP forgotten it. No party can win election on false promises hereafter. Our PM should note that. In recent Delhi election also lower and middle class have voted against BJP only for non fulfilment of their promise. Unless this is done no hope of further electoral gain in future.
Exempted categories of income are discriminatory per se . Not increasing limits of exemption for a few is right. What is required is that the basic exemption limit threshold is reviewed every year in say as per the cpi ( change in which increases the central govt Dearness allowance) . Though all salaried persons are not govt employees , they should at least get Income tax relief due to inflation.
Nice of placeing on board the corner of soft targetted customer!
Can govt allow /facillitate tax payer with exemption at road toll as available to all tom dick herry!
First 80C limit should be increased from R.1.5 lcs to 2.50 lacs
secondly 87A Rs 5000 to be continued like last year limit of 5 lacs taxable income
Expectations were to bring back standard deduction for salary income
It is a good measure to balance the salary class and others at least with basic exemption/threshold limit
Now the Finance Act 2017 discriminated salary class and also II SLAB salary assesses are taken in to higher income
Entirely agree with the author. If you include pensioners in “Salaried Class”, it is all the more sad. Look at TDS rules. TDS on payment to contarctors is only 2%; but TDS on interest on bank deposits is 10%. For pensioners, Tax on interest on FDs must go. Under the garb of PMGKY, even a black money hoarder can retain 25% (another 25%, after 4 years, no prosecution) etc. Is not the present Govt colluding with the hoarders of black money? The apex court is also not noticing this fraud; cant they take it suo motu? When Ex-PM said “legalised plunder”, he was not right. But now he is right.