Income Tax: Salaried class can save some money now!

Moneycontrol Bureau

Salaried class will see a slight increase in their savings every month, after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee widened the income tax bracket.

He proposed a change in the minimum exemption for income tax from Rs 1,80,000 to Rs 2,00,000. While this is something that will add to the disposable income of a salaried individual, it's a far cry from the Rs 3,00,000 that was expected.

The real benefit on the tax front is for anyone who has a higher amount of income as the 20% tax slab has been increased from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. 

Another area change which the salaried individual was hoping for was  a boost to the housing sector with an increase in exemption of interest paid on loans borrowed for buying houses for self occupation which is currently restricted to Rs 1,50,000 for the year. However, there has been no relief offered in this Budget.

In the Budget, hike in excise duty to 12% has seen automobiles and other products including consumer durables leading to the burden being passed onto the consumer. On the whole, with excise duty going up, diesel cars, cigarettes, computers and mobile phones are all expected to get costlier now.