Salaried class in national Capital divided over benefits of I-T rates

"It's absolutely no relaxation for the salaried class. Is the salaried class only till Rs 5 lakh? With the same ratio, it should have been extended till Rs 30 lakh so that more people are encouraged to pay taxes and not seek means to evade the same," said Vimal Gupta, who worked in a private company and was travelling in a Metro and when the reporter caught up with him. Vimal was responding to a question on whether tax reduction from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for the income group between Rs 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh will benefit the salaried class.

Though Jaitley himself acknowledged that data shows that we are largely a tax non-complaint society, where all the burden falls on honest taxpayers, the salaried class did not seem too exited about the announcement. Some see the move as a marginal relief but feel that the same is not worth celebrating. This shows that relaxation to the salaried class in the Budget fell short of wide expectations that the class had from it.

"This would reduce the tax liability of all persons below Rs 5 lakh income either to zero (with rebate) or 50% of their existing liability," said Jaitley. He left the exemption limit unchanged at Rs 2.5 lakh.

"Nothing to celebrate. I definitely expected more. This is just an eyewash. I thought there would be a major shift in the tax slab which did not happen," said Taqi Naqvi who works in an MNC in Gurgaon.

To simplify the procedure and encourage compliance, Jaitley announced a simple one-page form for individuals with taxable income of upto

Rs 5 lakh. Though this is expected to ease the process, it too seems to have failed to woo the salaried class in Delhi.

"Easing the process to file returns is great but again I would have loved to see the tax exemptions till a higher level," said Ashraf, who is working in a private company in Delhi.

However, some youth see this as a welcome move. Rizwan, who works in a private company was quite optimistic seeing about the announcement and said: "I am pretty much comfortable with it. The relaxation in the tax slab is perfect and this move should be welcomed."

However, no changes have been proposed during the Budget speech in the indirect taxes such as excise and service tax, which have a direct impact on the prices of various commodities due to the introduction of GST shortly.