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Journalism of Courage
I am a single mother struggling to strike balance between work,home management and taking care of my only child. Is there anything in the Budget for people like us?
Shalini Gupta,Pune
With prices likely to up on several essential commodities like consumer durables,electronic goods like cell phones etc. and everyday purchases also being expensive,it is indeed a dismal picture for most individuals and especially for working women,who face discomfort on more than one front. The fact that there is nothing special on the tax exemption front does not help matters either. However,the new Budget promises lower interest rates to women borrowers for housing loan and further exemptions in case of timely repayments. The move will actually benefit a special class of single mothers who are looking forward to settle down on their own.
What are the most interesting aspects this budget has to offer on the personal taxation front?
Madhur Kalra,Delhi
The FM has proposed to give a deduction of Rs 5,000 for expenses incurred on preventive health check-up. A new equity scheme called Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme is being introduced to promote equity investments. This scheme will get income tax deduction,which will be purely applicable to the new retail investors who will invest directly into equity up to Rs 50,000 with a lock-in period of three years. The investors annual income should not exceed Rs 10,00,000. In order to ensure more number of participation from small towns in Initial Public Offers,the FM has announced that changes have been made in the IPO guidelines. The FM has proposed to give a tax deduction of upto Rs 10,000 on the interest earned from savings bank accounts. This means you can keep upto 2.5 lakh continuously in your savings bank,get interest (currently 4 per cent in most banks) and not worry about the interest getting taxed.
Who stands to benefit most with the new tax slabs proposed in the budget?/b>
Sameer Jain,Kolkata
The new slabs only serve those who are in the Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh slab income the best. The benefit for a person earning just less than Rs 10 lakh in this category will be around Rs 20,000 of reduction in taxes. For the rest there are hardly any benefits. The taxation of unexplained money,credits,investments,expenditures etc,will be taxed at the highest rate of 30 per cent irrespective of the slab.
The expert is CEO,Bankbazaar.com
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