FM hikes wealth tax exemption limit to Rs 30 lakh; deduction for education loan extended to all courses

By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JULY 06, 2009: LIVING up to the expectations of aam adami, the Finance Minister has hiked the personal income tax exemption limit by Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.6 lakh. For senior citizens the hike is to the tune of Rs 15000/-. For those whose income is above Rs 10 lakh, the surcharge of 10% is gone. On the wealth tax front, a major relief has come as the Minister has hiked the exemption limit from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. For maintenance of disabled persons, the limit has been hiked from Rs 75000 to Rs one lakh u/s 80DD. FM has also granted deduction for interest on loan taken for higher education. The definition of higher education has been liberalised and all courses above senior secondary-leve will now qualify for this benefit under Sec 80E.

For the corporate world, although there is no change in the corporate tax rate, the FM has abolished the most strongly-disliked Fringe Benefit Tax. The stillborn CTT has also been scrapped to keep up the sentiments of the market. There are many more reliefs which have been proposed and the highlights are:

++ income tax exemption limit increased by rs. 10,000 from rs. 1.5 lakh to rs. 1.6 lakh, from rs.1.8 lakh to rs.1.9 lakh for women tax payers and rs.2.25 lakh to rs. 2.4 lakh for senior citizens;

++ 10 per cent surcharge on income tax goes.

++ fringe benefit tax to be abolished.

++ minimum alternate tax increased from 10 to 15 per cent.

++ commodity transaction tax to be abolished.

++ television set-top box to attract 5 per cent customs duty.

++ customs duty on bio-diesel reduced from 7.5 to 2.5 percent on lcd panels from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. And on 10 specified life saving drugs/vaccine from 10 per cent to 5 percent.

++ customs duty on gold increased from rs. 250 per 10 grams to rs. 500.

++ excise rate hiked from 4 to 8 per cent for a number of products barring specified food items, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, paper and paper boards, pressure cookers and cheap footwear.

++ excise duty on naptha, slashed to 14 per cent while high speed diesel blended with 20 per cent bio-diesel fully exempted from excise duty.

++ excise duty on man-made fibre, polyester chips, pta and dmt to be increased from 4 per cent to 8 per cent.

++ service tax to be imposed on cosmetic and plastic surgery, transport of goods by rail and coastal and inland waterway cargo.

+ + revenue deficit projected at 4.8 per cent of GDP;

++ fiscal deficit pegged at 6.8 per cent.

++ the finance minister shri pranab mukherjee, unveils massive hike in expenditure to put the economy on growth path.

++ total expenditure increased by 36 per cent; plan expenditure to go up 34 per cent to rs. 3,25,149 crore.

++ non-plan expenditure to go up by 37 per cent.

++ target for agricultural credit flow set at rs. 3,25,000 crore. Allocation under rashtriya krishi vikas yojana increased by 30 per cent and under accelerated irrigation benefit programme increased by 75 per cent.

++ allocation under NREGS hiked by 144 percent to rs. 39,100 crore.

++ allocation under Bharat Nirman increased by 45 percent; pradhan mantri gram sadak yojana, rajiv gandhi grameen vidyutikaran yojana and indira awaas yojana get substantial hike.

++ new scheme of pradhan mantri adarsh gram yojana to be launched on pilot basis.

++ all bpl families to be covered under rashtriya swasthya bima yojana .

++ unique identification authority of india gets rs. 120 crore.

++ one-rank one-pension committee report accepted. Pre-1997 and pre-2006 below officer rank defence pensioners to benefit.

++ outlay for commonwealth games increased to rs. 3472 crore.

++ no change in corporate tax rates.