Budget 2022: No relief for the salaried, FM keeps tax slabs and rates unchanged

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman started her Budget 2022 speech by expressing her empathy for those who suffered due to the COVID-19 impact and had words of praise for tax-payers throughout the speech. However, tax-payers were left disappointed as no major tax benefit to ease their miseries was announced.

Those in the higher tax brackets had some reason to cheer as the FM decided to the cap surcharge on the long term capital gains (LTCG) payable on financial assets at 15 percent. So far, the surcharge on LTCG was capped at 15 percent for listed stocks and equity mutual fund. Now, this has been extended to all financial assets. This should benefit taxpayers with income, including long-term capital gains, of more than Rs 2 crore per year.

Besides this move, she did not tinker with income tax slabs under both the tax regimes (see graphic).

Long-standing expectations of increase in basic exemption limit (Rs 2.5lakh) and standard deduction (Rs 50,000) did not materialise.