Union Budget 2018: Mobile Phones, TVs To Cost More, No Change In Income Tax Slabs, Middle Class Left High & Dry
There is no change in the income tax slab but the government has made an attempt to woo the middle class by boosting its take-home pay via Rs 40,000 standard deduction against travel and medical expenses for salaried taxpayers.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today presented the government¡¯s last full Union Budget. This budget was all about Roti, Kapda aur Kisan, with the FM announcing sops primarily for the agricultural sector. The Indian middle-class did not gain anything from this budget.
This is the first budget after the rollout of GST, which came into effect on July 1, 2017.
There is no change in the income tax slab but the government has made an attempt to woo the middle class by boosting its take-home pay via Rs 40,000 standard deduction against travel and medical expenses for salaried taxpayers.
Mobile phones and television sets are set to get costlier with a proposed hike in custom duty, providing a stimulus to ¡®Make In India¡¯. Social welfare surcharge of 10% imposed on imported goods.
Education cess increased to 4% from 3% to collect additional Rs 11,000 crore.
Mobile phones are set to get more expensive/Representational Image
Senior-citizen friendly budget
Exemptions in income of Rs 10,000 from Banks FD and post offices
Senior citizens to get Rs 50,000 per annum exemption for medical insurance under Sec 80D
Rs 7.5 lakh per senior citizen limit for investment in interest-bearing LIC schemes doubled to Rs 15 lakh
Employee-centric schemes
Govt will contribute 12% of the wages of new employees in EPF in all sectors for next 3 years
Women contribution to EPF reduced to 8% for first 3 years
Representational Image
The Finance Minister mentioned a huge increase in tax returns filed. 85.51 lakh people filed returns in 2017-18, he said, as against 66.26 lakh in 2016-17. No Personal Income Tax changes have been proposed in the budget.
The President¡¯s salary will go up to Rs 5 lakh a month, the Vice-President¡¯s salary will rise to Rs 4 lakh per month and the Governor¡¯s pay will rise to Rs 3.5 lakh a month.
Jaitley also announced a Rs 150 crore fund to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Read more: Union Budget 2018: Here Are The Major Highlights Of Arun Jaitley's Budget
Jaitley has also increased the earmarked allocation for Scheduled Castes (Rs 56,000 crore) and Scheduled Tribes (Rs 39,000 crore) in Budget 2018.
He announced the National Health Protection Scheme, the world¡¯s largest government-funded universal healthcare programme, even bigger than Obamacare, in his Budget speech.
Jaitley added that the government¡¯s focus will shift from Ease of Doing Business to Ease of Living for poorest of the poor.