Budget 2022: Nirmala Sitharaman quotes Mahabharata verse as she speaks about direct taxes

Budget 2022: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 'green bonds' for 'green infrastructure' (Image credit: @ANI/Twitter)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman started the second part of her Union Budget speech by speaking about direct taxes with a verse from the Mahabharata.

“The king must collect taxes in accordance with dharma,” Nirmala Sitharaman said, quoting from Shanti Parva, the twelfth of eighteen books of the Mahabharata.

The finance minister did not announce any change in income tax slabs during her Budget 2022 speech but said that taxpayers can file updated returns within two years from relevant the assessment year.

FM quoted these lines from Mahabharata while speaking on Direct Tax.... pic.twitter.com/rsh8OFAGcU

— Bijendra Singh (@bijendrasingh) February 1, 2022

Income from virtual or digital assets like cryptocurrency will attract 30 percent tax.

Sitharaman also proposed an increase in tax deduction limit for state government employees’ contribution to National Pension Scheme for 10 percent to 14 percent.

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For cooperatives, the alternate minimum tax has been reduced from 18.5 percent to 15 percent. Surcharge of cooperative societies with income below 1 crore will be cut from 12 percent to 7 percent.

For start-ups, the existing tax benefits will be extended by one more year.

The finance minister said during her Budget speech that the Goods and Services Tax played a remarkable role in India's GDP.

"GST revenues are buoyant despite the pandemic, gross GST collection for month of January are over Rs. 1.4 lakh crore," the finance minister said. "The highest since the inception of GST."

The finance minister praised taxpayers who have diligently fulfilled their responsibilities.

Sitharaman  concluded her 2022 Union Budget speech in one hour and 30 minutes. This was the finance minister's shortest budget speech so far. She began presenting the budget at 11 am sharp, reading from an indigenously-made tablet.