Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday “apologized” to middle class taxpayers after presenting the Union Budget 2022 earlier in the day. Since little to no changes were brought into effect in terms of income tax, the budget may turn out to be disappointment for salaried and middle-class taxpayers.
Presenting her fourth consecutive budget, Sitharaman shied away from making any change in the income tax slab like last year. In reference to challenges brought in by the Covid-19 pandemic, asked why people’s expectations had not been met with regard to relief in income tax, Sitharaman said, “I don’t want to give a cynical reply. If I want to, then I’d say not increasing tax would be a relief in itself. But I won’t do that. There are times when it’ll have to wait a bit longer, so I am sorry that it did not happen this time…”
Sitharaman also said while she was sorry, she had definitely not increased the income tax last year as well as this year.
“I want to reiterate that I have not increased tax this year as well as last year. I haven’t made any attempt to earn any additional revenue through income tax. Last year, Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) instructed that no matter what the deficit, income tax burden should not be increased on people due to the demands and challenges brought about due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.
