Budget 2020: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced an optional new income tax regime that levies a lower tax rate on people who do not want to claim any of the specified exemptions or deductions. At a Press conference after she presented the budget proposals in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the intention was to reduce the rate as much as to simplify the tax structure.
“We wanted to be sure that the money is in the hands of people so we brought down tax for the middle class and the lower middle class,” she said.
Shaheen Bagh: In the backdrop of the forthcoming Delhi assembly elections, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has directed Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik to ensure outsiders and suspicious characters are thoroughly frisked before they can access the Shaheen Bagh protest side. Baijal’s clear directive comes against the backdrop of a shooting incident just 50 metres from the stage earlier in the day.
New tax regime: Chief Election Commissioner, his two colleagues and the key public service recruitment body Union Public Service Commission leadership will have to start paying more taxes from April next year. In her budget proposals that introduced a new tax regime for individuals to reduce tax exemptions for lakhs of taxpayers, Nirmala Sitharaman also incorporated a proposal to amend the law that had exempted the top-ranking functionaries from paying tax on four allowances.
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Budget High Lights 2020
Pay more
- Medical equipment
- Footwear
- Furniture
- Wall fans
- Cigarettes, tobacco products
- Tableware/kitchenware made of porcelain or China ceramic
- Clay iron
- Steel
- Copper
- Catalytic converters
- Parts of commercial vehicles
- Selected electronic vehicles
- Selected toys
- Selected mobile equipment
Pay less
- Raw sugar
- Skimmed milk
- Soya fibre
- Soya protein
- Certain alcoholic beverages
- Agro-animal based products
- Tuna bait
- Purified terephthalic acid (PTA)
- Newsprint
- Lightweight coated paper
The government has proposed to reduce the customs duty on the import of the following items:
- Pure-bred breeding horses
- Newsprint C
- Sports goods
- Microphones
- Electric vehicles
