Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the Income Tax exemption limit for
individual taxpayers, below the age of 60 years has been raised from Rs. 2
lakhs to Rs. 2.5 lakhs.
The
General Budget 2014-15 presented by the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun
Jaitley on 10th this month, most Central Government employees were hoping that
the Income Tax exemption limit for salaried pupil would be raised to atleast Rs
3 lakhs this time. But the Finance Minister delivered a shock and
disappointment to everyone with an increase of a mere Rs. 50,000.
Prior
to the election, based on the speeches and statements issued by the now Finance
Minister, there were talks that the non-taxable income limits would be raised
to Rs. 5 lakhs.
Central
Government employees, who were constantly disappointed in the past few years,
were not ready to believe it. But they reluctantly hoped that the amount would
be raised by Rs. 1 lakh.
The
fact that it was increased by only Rs. 50,000 had disappointed many. It could
have been much worse had there not been any increase at all or if it was a
consolatory hike of Rs. 10,000.
The
Minister explained that he couldn’t offer anything more for the time being due
to acute cash crunch for the newly elected Government. But he assured everybody
that it is just the beginning, and that there will be plenty of positive
changes in the future. Since this is the first budget presented by the new
Government and since he has already granted exemption of Rs. 50,000, his
promise is very believable.
It
is worth mentioning that tax exemption under Section 80C is going to be
increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakhs. It is a painful fact that tax
exemptions for savings had not been increased for a number of years. There were
rumours that the Government is planning to hike the exemption by Rs. 1 lakh,
but the Finance Minister has offered much-needed consolation by increasing it
by Rs. 50,000.
Although
the change is not a huge one for thousands of Government employees who have
been waiting for tax relief for a number of years, they are bound to feel
mildly reassured.
The
table given below shows the non taxable salary slab for the past eight years.
|
YEAR
|
MINIMUM
INCOME CEILING
|
|
2009-10
|
1,60,000
|
|
2010-11
|
1,60,000
|
|
2011-12
|
1,80,000
|
|
2012-13
|
2,00,000
|
|
2013-14
|
2,00,000
|
|
2014-15
|
2,50,000
|
