- Tax for Rs 3-5 lakh slab is 20%; above Rs 5 lakh, 30%
- Senior citizens' threshold hiked from
Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh - Women's exemption threshold raised from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh
- For all others, tax threshold hiked from Rs 1.1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh
- Banking cash transaction tax withdrawn from April 1, 2009
- Increase in short-term capital gains tax to 15%
- No FBT on creches, employee sports, guest house facilities
- Duty on two-wheelers reduced from
16% to 12% - Tax-GDP ratio up at 12.5%
- General CENVAT rate on all goods down from 16% to 14%
When kings in olden times had an event to celebrate, they'd throw out handfuls of gold coins and jewels to peasants lining the street. The basic action remains the same in a modern democracy, where the celebration of an economy growing at 8.8 per cent prods a finance minister (with both eyes firmly on the looming elections) to throw off cash...
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