Union Budget: Middle class emerges winner, as Nirmala provides relief

With today’s Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has provided much needed relief to the middle class of the country. 

There will be no income tax payable up to Rs 12 lakh – up to Rs 12.75 lakh including standard deductions – under the new regime, Sitharaman said as she read out the Union Budget 2025.

The tax relief is expected to  consumption and increase purchasing power of the middle class.

Sitharaman also announced revisions to the tax slabs (applicable to the new regime only).

Under the revised slab, tax on income between Rs 8 and Rs 12 lakh will be 10 per cent.

Between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 16 lakh it will be 15 per cent.

Between Rs 16 lakh and Rs 20 lakh it will be 20 per cent.

Between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh it will be 25 per cent.

Above Rs 25 lakh and Rs 25 lakh it will be 30 per cent.

All of this, Ms Sitharaman said, will “substantially reduce the tax burden on the middle class”.

The tax relief is also expected to boost the Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral prospects in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly polls. The tax relief is also expected to create a wide ranging goodwill for the ruling National Democratic Alliance government. 

The 70-member Delhi Assembly is scheduled to go for polls on February 5 and the results will be announced on February 8.