New Delhi, January 3: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2023-24 in Parliament on February 1. Ahead of the Union Budget 2023-24 presentation, people are speculating on what Nirmala Sitharaman would announce in her budgetary speech. A section of people have been demanding that income tax should be abolished. Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy has long been a proponent of abolishing income tax.

In an interview last year, Dr Subramanian Swamy had said that if he were the Finance Minister, he would do away with income tax. "Firstly, I would announce that effective from April 1, till we are back to normal, no income tax will be paid by anybody. And once normalcy comes, I think we should start making that permanent," the BJP lawmaker had been quoted as saying. He believes there are alternatives like auctioning of coals to raise resources without taxing people's income. Budget 2023-24: Income Tax Exemption Limit Likely To Be Enhanced to Rs 5 Lakh.

While Dr Swamy wants income tax to be abolished altogether, Arvind Panagariya, former Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, wants all kinds of tax exemptions to be abolished. "The time has come to reform the personal income tax system. Similar to the decision we have taken regarding tax on corporate profits, we will get all tax exemptions or most of them," he was quoted by CNBC Awaaz as saying. Union Budget 2023-24: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Meets State Finance Ministers for Their Inputs.

According to the same poral, there could be major changes in the new tax slabs likely to be announced in the Budget 2023. A taxpayer-friendly new system of income tax is likely to be announced by Sitharaman. In the Union Budget 2020-21, Sitharaman had introduced a new tax regime with lower tax rates and without exemptions.

Since paying income tax as per the new tax regime was optional, many taxpayers still opt for the old tax regime because they get tax exemptions. While Panagariya wants tax exemptions to be gone, a report by IANS said the government is likely to enhance the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh.

If the tax exemption limit is raised, it will boost consumption, meaning people will have more money to spend. It might eventually lead to an economic recovery. Will Nirmala Sitharaman abolish income tax? Will she cancel tax exemptions? We will come to know on February 1 when the Budget 2023 will be presented.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 03, 2023 03:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).