Govt mulls raising income tax exemption limit

J D Seelam, MoS for finance, says govt feels in case of tax evasion; penalty should be in accordance with proportion of evaded amount

Union government is mulling over extending the exemption limit of Income tax for commoners. Also it will make the stringent Income tax flexible.

“We will consider raising income tax exemption limit in next budget,” J D Seelam, Union Minister of State for Finance said here. He was here to review the income tax collection review.

The minister said, “The government wants that in case of tax evasion the penalty should be in accordance of proportion of the evaded amount. The government is considering to make it simpler.”

The income tax collection is 40% as of now but it always goes up after July. We would achieve our targets, the minister added.

On rupee and market he said, many economies have seen a turbulent time. “All economies need stable currency and we hope very soon we will have a stable currency. We have to arrest our unnecessary imports in order to have better forex reserves.”

On being asked how the Union government will tackle the situation when some corporate houses have to repay an amount of Rs 172 billion US dollar loans by March 2014, “We have sufficient time to have comfortable forex reserve. India’s forex reserve is at nearly $275 billion.