For very long the SALARIED CLASS has been saddled with Taxes which makes one question the sense of proportions. Analogy has it that the "beast of burden" in Indian context is Resident SALARIED CLASS INDIAN...
Here is some food for thought... Yes, you can continue to flog SALARIED CLASS ONLY if you allow them to prosper and not finish them off with Taxes...
(a) Let the slabs be reduced drastically with the MAX Tax slab being 25% (all inclusive - ALL Surcharges, Cess etc.,.). (b) Re-introduce STANDARD DEDUCTIONS... Please don't forget that the common man pays taxes in every thing he buys/uses/enjoys/gains/sells and so there has to be some relief. Let the STD DEDUCTION be slab based Rs. 0-5 L --> Rs. 50K, Rs. 5-10 --> Rs. 1L, Rs. 10L-25L --> 2L, Rs. 25L to 50L --> 3.5L, Rs. 50L-1Cr Rs. 5L. (c) Make the Corporate Tax stricter. Let the Surcharge be reintroduced and be pegged at 20% across all tax paying Corporates. (d) With increasing Commodity Prices Common man (SALARIED CLASS) needs another component of relief which will be called - CPI-Relief and let that be to a max of 5% of the Taxable income - more applied as a rebate on the Tax to be paid. The last point will help the Govt score some brawny points about how they are addressing the “rising prices” syndrome. (e) To ensure that ALL the BLACK MONEY comes to the fore let relief be provided based on Bank Interests and assets declared as a Tax-rebate. This will eliminate the benamis and black money. Tx.Ravi
