CBDT Chief backs better treatment for 'best taxpayers'

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra on Tuesday called for better treatment to salaried employees, hailing them to be the "best taxpayers" in the country.

"Salaried employees are the best taxpayers and deserve better treatment. In the personal tax category, 1.89 crore salaried employees gave Rs. 1, 48,000 crore as tax, while 1.88 crore business persons gave Rs. 44,000 crore. Therefore, we decided to apply a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 to all salaried persons," he said at a gathering organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Amid the uprising against the levy of a 10 percent tax on long-term capital gains (LTCG), Chandra stated that there should be no "hue and cry" over the same, as nearly 99.5 percent companies were in the corporate tax bracket of 25 percent.

"It is a matter of around 7,000 companies only," he added.

With regards to the benefits bestowed upon senior citizens, Chandra said the government saw a necessity to strengthen this stratum of society, owing to falling interest rates.

"Initially, the exemption rate for senior citizens was fixed at Rs. 10,000. However, with falling interest rates, we decided that they should be given better treatment, owing to which we facilitated a Rs. 40,000 worth increase in the Union Budget 2018-19, along with a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 for pensioners," he said.

Lauding the Centre's "balanced" budget, Chandra said the allocation for this year was done in a way to ensure significant reforms across all sectors, rather than focusing on just one.