New Delhi: A majority
of the salaried class want the exemption limit for income tax to
be raised to Rs.3 lakh from the existing Rs.2 lakh, a survey by Assocham has revealed.
Salaried people also demand increase in deductions such as on
medical and educational allowances in the Union Budget for
2012-13, which will be presented at the end of this month.
Nearly 90 percent of the respondents said the slab of tax-free
income has not moved up in line with real inflation. The current
basic exemption limit of Rs.200,000 should be increased to at
least Rs.300,000 with the limit for women going up to Rs.350,000,
the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said
in the survey report.
"Pushing the basic exemption limit helps the tax payers in saving
taxes and will also align it with the proposals made by the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Direct Taxes Code (DTC)",
the survey said.
The survey was conducted in all major cities including Delhi-NCR,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune
and Chandigarh. About 2,500 employees from the different sectors
participated in the survey.
With increasing healthcare costs, the existing tax-free limit of
Rs.15,000 should be increased to Rs.50,000, the same also needs to
be considered in the Budget, 89 percent of the respondents said.
The transportation allowance granted by the employer to the
employee for commuting between the place of work and residence is
tax-free to the extent of Rs.800 per month.
This limit was fixed more than a decade ago, and definitely needs
to be revised upwards to at least Rs.3,000 per month, given the
rising commuting costs across the country, majority of the
respondents in the survey said.
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