Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Union Budget for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha on Friday which seemed to be a people friendly one. With the elections ahead, the budget mostly aimed at the poor and middle class will benefit the working class people by raising the income tax exemption limit from 1.1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.

 

For women, the exemption limit has been raised from 1.45 lakh to 1.8 lakh and for senior citizen it has been hiked from Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh.

 

With the new structure, an individual having an income of Rs 10 lakh would pay no tax on income up to Rs 1.5 lakh, Rs 15,000 between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, Rs 40,000 between Rs 3-5 lakh and Rs 1,50,000 between Rs 5-10 lakh.

 

The other highlights are writing off the loans of farmers by waiving 600 billion rupees, imposing no fresh burden on corporates and cut down on excise duties.
--MP