After presenting the budget of Modi 3.0, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave an exclusive interview on Aajtak on Thursday. Speaking on the budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that this is a budget beneficial for the middle class. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that relief has been given to the middle class by reducing the Income Tax Slab and Standard Deduction. Not only this, some other reliefs have also been given.
Speaking further, the Finance Minister said that to provide further relief to the middle class, a subsidy loan of up to Rs 10 lakh has also been announced for the students. Also, if someone from a middle class family goes abroad for studies or treatment, he has also been given relief by increasing the amount. We are also giving relief in loans so that the middle class can buy affordable houses.
Why not change the old tax regime?
They are not giving big relief just by giving tax exemption, but are giving all-round relief. We have always been trying to reduce taxes. We thought it was not right to reduce taxes in the old tax regime. That’s why we came up with a new regime and will continue to increase the relaxations in it.
Is there a bubble in the stock market, why is LTCG increased?
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that our intention is not to tamper with the stock market. SEBI is keeping an eye on this. The government has no intention of tampering with the stock market. He said that the Long Term Capital Gain Tax (LTCG) for the stock market was increased from 10 percent to 12.5 percent so that equal treatment can be given to the asset class. In this also a rebate of Rs 1.25 lakh has been given annually.
This has been done to simplify the tax system. He said that before the arrival of GST, there were separate taxes in every item and state, which were combined after the arrival of GST. Similarly, changes have also been made in LTCG and similar treatment has been given.
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Why was indexation removed from the property?
The Finance Minister said that earlier long term property tax was levied at 20 percent, which has now been reduced to 12.5 percent. However indexation has been removed. He said that he arrived at this amount only after calculating everything.