Finance Minister Nirmala Sithararaman, responding to the debate on the Finance Bill, 2022, cleared by the Lok Sabha on Friday, blamed the Russia-Ukraine conflict for rising fuel prices and asserted that the government was committed to reducing the burden on the common man.
To counter Opposition criticism on high inflation and the lack of any tax relief for the middle class in the Budget for 2022-23, Ms. Sitharaman recalled a speech by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru blaming the Korean war amid soaring food prices in 1951, and late PM Indira Gandhi’s decision to sharply raise income tax rates in 1970. Unlike many developed nations, India had not raised taxes to finance the pandemic spending and the economy’s recovery, she said.
The passage of the Bill, with 39 amendments including clarificatory points regarding the taxation of virtual digital assets and the disallowance of cess and surcharges as a business expense, paves the way for the government to implement the provisions of the Union Budget from April 1.
