Hyderabad, Jun 13 (UNI) All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) on Thursday urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to raise upwards the ceiling on Income Tax for Salaried Persons to Rs 7.5 lakh with exclusion of fringe benefits like housing, medical and educational facilities.
In a letter to Ms Sitharaman, AIBEA General Secretary Ch Venkatachalam said the income tax rate above Rs.7.5 lakh and upto Rs.12 lakh should be 10% and above Rs. 12 lakhs upto Rs. 20 lakh, 20% and above Rs. 20 lakh and upto Rs 25 lakh it should be 25 per cent.
He said the income tax slab for rich individuals should be raised significantly.
For annual incomes between Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 1 Crore, tax rate should be 35 per cent and for annual income above Rs 1 Crore, the tax rate shall be 40 per cent, he added.
Mr Venkatachalam said adequate steps to be initiated by the government to recover the tax dues from industrialists, high networth individuals and companies, corporates, through law enforcement agencies.
India’s tax-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world. Further, the direct tax income is also quite low vis-à-vis the indirect taxes. While the indirect taxes burden in borne by all the people of the country, the lower direct tax collections result in rich getting incentive due to “low tax regime” while the poorer and common man gets taxed. Hence, proper mechanism should be devised to secure more direct tax income and by reducing the indirect tax viz., GST on various essential products and commodities, he said.
The top Union leader said the exemptions on tax and “tax holidays” to Corporates and industrialists should be scrapped and abolished.
Uniform tax rates for goods should be introduced throughout the country and adequate compensation should be paid to the State Governments by the Centre for such introduction, for the revenues that would be affected by such move.
The tax on all stock market and futures’ transactions should be collected. Applicable tax should be collected for dividend income, Mr Venkatachalam said.
UNI CS 1229