Budget 2018: Govt may dole out tax sops to woo middle class

New Delhi: Eager to win over middle class, finance minister Arun Jaitley on 1 February is expected to present a common man friendly budget by either raising tax slabs or hiking investment limit in savings instruments, as per a news paper report.

As per a report in the Times of India, a section in the government wants to ensure the vocal segment is rewarded although the fiscal costs will be weighed.

Besides giving sops to the individual tax payers, Jaitley is also expected to unveil initiatives to give additional benefits for health insurance.

The FM may also look to raise interest in bank fixed deposits that have become less attractive following the recent rally in stock markets.

Another option before the finance minister may also be to offer sops for investment in mutual funds, the report said.

Quoting sources, the newspaper further said that a section within the government is backing the re-introduction of long term capital gains tax on stock market transactions. However it will apply to new transactions above a certain value, say Rs 5 lakh.

Technically this would be Arun Jaitley’s last full-fledged budget as the next one will be a vote-on-account (where Parliament approves routine expenditure such that the government continues to run till a new regime is in place).

The next budget would come just months before the scheduled date of the 17th general election.

The Budget session of Parliament will commence from January 29 and the Union Budget will be presented on 1 February one.

President Ramnath Kovind will address the joint sitting of the two Houses on January 29 and the Economic Survey for 2017-18 will be tabled on the same day.