Hours after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced tax rebates in the Union Budget 2023-2024, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee criticised the Centre’s actions as ‘anti-people.’
She made the remarks while addressing a government function at Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. “The Budget did not address anything for the unemployed people. Whatever jobs existed are now being removed by the Central government.”
“They are selling everything, disinvesting government assets,” she claimed without elaborating that only those assets are disinvested, which are making losses for years and have no future of making a financial recovery in near future.
‘এই বাজেটে কোনও আশার আলো নেই’, কেন্দ্রকে কটাক্ষ মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের #Budget2023 #Budget #BudgetSession2023 #BudgetSession #NirmalaSitharaman #NirmalaSitaraman #MamataBanerjee @nsitharamanoffc @FinMinIndia @PMOIndia @narendramodi @MamataOfficial pic.twitter.com/9kPP1D56fV
— Asianetnews Bangla (@AsianetNewsBN) February 1, 2023
“This Budget is not futuristic but totally opportunistic. There is no ray of hope in this budget but the darkness of Amāvásyā. Totally anti-poor budget. It has neglected the poor,” the West Bengal Chief Minister said.
She claimed that the tax rebate will not help anyone due to ‘rising inflation.’ “Give me half an hour and I will show you how to prepare a Budget for the poor,” she was quoted as saying.
Mamata Banerjee then went on to repeat the misleading claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised ₹15 lakhs to everyone. “Did anyone get it? You did not,” she asked. Mamata Banerjee also reiterated the fake news that the Indian Prime Minister promised 2 crore jobs per year.
She alleged that the Centre had withheld the wages of those involved in ‘100 Days of work’ under the Mahatma Gandhi NREG Act. “How can you stop our payments? Is it not a criminal offence,” Mamata Banerjee inquired.
Union Budget 2023 gives major relief for the middle class
In the last full-fledged budget of the second Narendra Modi government presented by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, major reliefs have been announced for the income taxpayers. The finance minister announced 5 major changes to the personal income tax regime under the direct tax proposals of the budget, which will reduce the income tax burden of the middle-class taxpayers significantly.
Under the revised income tax system, the rebate limit for the new tax regime has been increased to ₹7 lakhs from ₹5 lakh. This means, no income tax will be payable for those people who have income up to ₹7 lakhs, provided they opt to file their income tax returns under the new income tax regime. However, the rebate limit remains ₹5 lakhs for the taxpayers that choose to remain in the old tax regime.
Under the new income tax regime, the income tax rates are lower, but it does not have several deductions and exemptions which are available in the old tax regime. At present, both regimes are available for taxpayers. The new tax regime means that taxpayers do not need to invest in tax-saving instruments to save tax.
