Budget 2019: A recap on how Modi government changed Income Tax slabs since 2014?
New Delhi, July 04: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present the full Union budget 2019 and there's a lot of excitement brewing among citizens. The newly appointed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to announce her maiden union budget today. This would be the first budget under Modi government's second term.
Interim Budget presented by the then FM Piyush Goyal in February announced a big income tax relief for the common man, the middle-class is looking at FM Nirmala Sitharaman to take this a step further. However, it is unlikely there is any major changes in the income tax slabs as the Modi Government had already announced several tax relief measures for the individual taxpayers.
During the first term of the Narendra Modi government, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of income tax changes for the salaried class in the Union Budget from 2014 to 2018.
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Let us now look at how previous budgets provided tax relief to the common man:
2014
Budget
2014
made
a
lot
of
taxpayers
happy.
In
his
first
ever
budget
(July
2014),
the
then
finance
minister
Arun
Jaitley
presented
maiden
budget
of
the
Narendra
Modi
government,
he
gave
major
tax
relief
to
the
middle
class
by
increasing
the
exemption
limit
from
Rs
2
lakh
to
Rs
2.5
lakh.
The
income
tax
exemption
limit
for
senior
citizen
was
also
raised
from
Rs
2.5
lakh
to
Rs
3
lakh.
2015
Later
in
2015,
during
the
government's
second
budget,
deduction
limit
on
health
insurance
premium
was
increased
from
Rs
15,000
to
Rs
25,000.
For
senior
citizens,
it
was
increased
to
Rs
30,000
from
Rs
20,000.
The
exemption
on
transport
allowance
was
also
increased
from
Rs
800
to
Rs
1,600.
An
additional
deduction
of
Rs
50,000
for
National
Pension
Scheme
(NPS)
was
also
announced
in
the
Union
Budget
2015.
2016
This
year
there
were
number
of
budgetary
positives
for
the
common
man.
There
was
an
increase
in
the
tax
rebate
under
Section
87A
to
Rs
5,000
from
Rs
2,000
for
people
whose
earned
Rs
5
lakh
or
less.
Jaitley
also
made
some
deduction
limit
on
house
rent
which
was
also
increased
from
Rs
2,000
per
month
to
Rs
5,000
per
month.
The
most
significant
feature
of
that
budget
was
the
step
to
give
taxpayers
a
chance
to
correct
past
non-compliances
through
the
Income
Declaration
Scheme,
2016.
2017
In
the
Budget
2017-18,
Jaitley
reduced
tax
rate
on
Rs
2.5
lakh
-
Rs
5
lakh
slab
from
10
per
cent
to
5
per
cent.
The
income
tax
on
those
earning
annual
income
up
to
Rs
3.5
Lakh
was
reduced
to
Rs
2,500
from
Rs
5,000.
Jaitley
also
imposed
a
new
surcharge
on
the
rich
-
individuals/HUF
with
a
total
income
between
Rs
50
lakh
and
Rs
1
crore
were
now
required
to
pay
a
10%
surcharge.
He
justified
the
new
surcharge
with
the
argument
that
resources
in
a
country
that's
largely
non-tax
compliant
would
have
to
come
from
the
better-off.
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2018
In
the
Budget
that
would
turn
out
to
be
his
last,
Jaitley
announced
to
increase
the
deduction
on
income
from
interest
on
bank
and
post
office
deposits
from
Rs
10,000
to
Rs
50,000
for
senior
citizens.
An exemption from deduction for tax on interest income up to Rs 50,000 was also announced. The Modi government also promised to replace the 3 per cent education cess on personal income and corporation taxes with a 4 per cent 'Health and Education Cess'.
Interim
Budget
2019:
Due
to
health
reasons,
Arun
Jaitley
could
not
present
the
vote
on
account
and
Union
Minister
Piyush
Goyal
was
given
the
responsibility
to
present
the
last
budget.
The
acting
finance
minister
announced
full
tax
rebate
for
those
earning
up
to
Rs
5
lakh
per
annum.
Standard
deduction
for
salaried
class
was
also
raised
to
Rs
50,000
from
Rs
40,000.