Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, spoke on the Budget 2025-2026 and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very clear he wanted to do something on tax relief. Her remark comes a day after the Budget for the fiscal year was tabled which announced “zero income tax” on income up to Rs 12 lakhs.
In an exclusive interview with news agency PTI, Sitharaman said, “The voice which came wherever I travelled was ‘we are proud taxpayers, we are honest taxpayers, we want to be continuing to serve the country by being good taxpayers. But would you think about the kind of things you can do for us.’ And so, I had this discussion with the honourable PM, who put me on this specific assignment to ‘see what you can come up with’.”
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She said that what followed was a strategy towards that step and under the Prime Minister’s guidance the step was taken.
“There are a couple of things, which have been in the works for some time. One is the thought that the direct tax should be made simple and that it should be easy for compliance, and the tomb that goes in the name of direct taxation or Income Tax Act, will have to be a lot simpler,” the Finance Minister said.
She said that for the act, the emphasis was on simplifying the language, reducing the compliance burden, and also to make it a bit more user-friendly, and not let it be suffering due to various interpretations, which also was sought to be termed as rent-seeking tools.
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The Finance Minister said that the tax proposal will allow people to have more money in their hands. “States should engage with Finance Commission, not blame Centre over tax devolution,” Sitharaman said.
Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday described the Union Budget as “by the people, for the people, of the people”, and said PM Modi was fully behind the idea to cut taxes for middle class but it took time to convince the bureaucrats.
