Employment, skilling top focus in Budget: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her seventh consecutive Union Budget for 2024-25, outlined key priorities aimed at fostering economic growth and creating ample opportunities. She listed productivity and resilience in agriculture, employment and skilling, inclusive human resource development and social justice, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy security, infrastructure, innovation, research and development and next-generation reforms as nine priority areas for the government.

She also announced that the government  will undertake a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act to make it easy to read. Sitharaman said the government will come out with SoP (standard operating procedure) for TDS defaults and simplify and rationalise compounding of such offences.She added that two tax exemption regimes for charitable trusts will be merged into one. Also, 58 per cent of corporate tax have come from simplified tax regime in FY23. More than two-thirds of individuals availed of the new income tax regime, Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The FM further announced that DPI apps will be developed for credit, e-commerce, education, health, law, MSME service delivery, and urban governance.

Budget 2024-25: In the new tax regime, the tax rate structure is to be revised as follows;

Income of Rs 0-3 lakh to be taxed at 0 per cent,
Rs 3-7 lakh at 5 per cent
Rs 7-10 lakh at 10 per cent
Rs 10-12 lakh at 15 per cent
Rs 12-15 lakh at 20 per cent
Above Rs 15 lakh at 30… pic.twitter.com/sgClyamRba

— IANS (@ians_india) July 23, 2024

Giving a big relief to startups, the government on Tuesday announced removal of angel tax for all classes of investors to further promote the growth of budding entrepreneurs of the country.Angel tax refers to the income tax that the government imposes on funding raised by unlisted companies, or startups, if their valuation exceeds the company's fair market value. "To bolster the Indian startup eco-system, boost the entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation, I propose to abolish the so-called angel tax for all classes of investors," she said.