The Indian middle class, and even some of its top 10% earners, are now fully exempt from income taxes. Small businesses don’t expect such largesse; they just want to know when they will be free of stifling red tape. Budget with ET Budget Highlights: Gareeb, youth, annadata and naari feature in Budget.
What about taxes? New vs Old tax regime: Here's a decoder to help you choose the right one Will you pay more under new tax regime or old? Calculate here Depending on whom you ask, Narendra Modi’s government is either being bold in raising the effective threshold for paying taxes by 1.7 times — to roughly $14,000 in annual earnings. Or it’s a tacit admission by the prime minister and his team that they have pushed consumption taxes so high that even people making five times the average adult wage are struggling to fork out income taxes.
As I wrote in January, the economy is in dire need of a readjustment, and getting consumers to spend is the only way. The $12 billion fiscal stimulus, estimated at about 0.5% of private consumption, may not fully reverse the pronounced slowdown in urban spending: 37% of respondents said in a recent survey that they expect quality of life to deteriorate over the next 12 months, a level of despondence not seen since Modi became prime minister in 2014.
Still, the rebate won’t hurt. Even if the recipients save a part of their unexpected bonanza, the tax relief should boost consumer sentiment, at least in the short run. With a little bit of l.