Congress terms Budget 2022 as betrayal of salaried, middle class people

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget 2022-23 presented by Financial Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as a "betrayal of India's salaried and middle class" population for not announcing any rebates in the income tax slabs.

Ms Sitharaman had called this year's budget a "blueprint to steer economy from India@75 to India@100". Congress's Rahul Gandhi said it was a "Zero-sum budget".

"Disappointing budget. Achhe din pushed even further away. No relief to the middle class" said senior party leader Shashi Tharoor.

Manish Tewari went a step further, calling it "Insipid Unimaginative Uninspiring Unrealistic Unimplementable".

"India's Salaried Class & Middle Class were hoping for relief in times of pandemic, all-round pay cuts and back-breaking inflation. FM & PM have again deeply disappointed them in Direct Tax measures. This is a betrayal of India's Salaries Class & Middle Class," tweeted party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted:

Trinamool Congress's Derek O'Brien hit out at the government saying, "Diamonds are this government's best friend. For the rest— farmers, middle class, daily earners, unemployed— this is a PM (Does Not) Care Budget2022".

While no changes were made in tax slabs, the government announced that updated income tax returns can now be filed within two years.

The government also did not raise the standard deduction, which was widely anticipated in view of elevated inflation levels and the impact of the pandemic on the middle class. The standard deduction currently stands at Rs 50,000.

There were no change income tax slabs in the personal income tax category in the Budget unveiled on Tuesday. The corporate tax rate too was kept at the same level. However, the concessional rate of 15 per cent has been extended by one year for newly incorporated manufacturing units.