உரை....!

 Speech...!

The income tax cut is the FM's main thrust of this debate.

The House should know that only 3.2 crore persons pay income tax, as per the last figures available. The rest of the file returns, but they pay nil tax.

The FM has raised the threshold from ₹7 lakh to ₹12 lakh, and it applies to all taxpayers right up to the highest taxpayer.

I have looked at the CBDT statistics of the taxpayers (the last available).

My rough calculation is about 80-85 lakh taxpayers will go out from the tax net and 2.5 crore will benefit. This 2.5 crore not only includes the middle class but also:

- 2.27 lakh people who returned the total income of more than ₹1 crore.

- 262 people who returned a total income of over ₹100 crore.

- 23 persons who returned a total income of 500 crore.

So, this is not just benefiting the middle class alone—which is welcome—but also the richest of the rich.

The FM also claims that she has foregone ₹1 lakh crore. Yet, she has claimed that the net tax revenues to the Centre will grow by 11.1% in 2025-26. In 2024-25 also, it grew by 11%, the same number. So, the question is, after foregoing ₹1 lakh crore in this budget, how does she claim that the net tax revenues by the Centre will grow by the same 11%?

This is pure magic, not mathematics.

Secondly, the FM says this ₹1 lakh crore will go into consumption, which will boost the economy. However, in the last few days, even her cheerleaders have become sceptical about it.

I want to ask the Hon'ble FM, will not part of the ₹1 lakh crore go into savings? The SBI chairman has hoped that part of it will come to him and the banking system.

Will not part of the ₹1 lakh crore go into repaying old household debts, travel abroad, education, etc.? If you deduct all this, how does she claim that the money will go into consumption of domestic goods and services?

Let's compare the figure to the size of the GDP, which is ₹324 lakh crore, and ₹1 lakh crore only amounts to 0.3% of it.

So it must be asked if you seriously think that 0.3% will grow the GDP?

My humble advice to the Hon'ble FM would be to not rely on only one engine of growth. There are other engines, such as exports and capex, which must be ramped up.

: Rajya Sabha MP & Former Finance Minister Shri PChidambaram.