The moment Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ended her budget speech at 12.31 p.m., a large section of the middle class let out a collective groan of disbelief. The expected raising of tax slab or a cut in percentage of tax collected by way of income tax didn’t materialise. Within no time, #incometax, #middleclass #taxpayers and #ghanta were trending on social media as netizens shared memes and caustic barbs at being let down by the government.

“Almost every family is hit by COVID-related expenses in some way or the other. Some reduction in income tax slabs would have given some relief…it’sdisappointing,” said R. S. Prasad, who works with the State government in Hyderabad.

Younger taxpayers were equally angry and said that such a low tax bracket reflects an absence of pride in the country or its people. “I feel a revision of tax slabs is long due which takes into account the increased average incomes in the country and inflation. It is not fair to continuously burden the middle class,” said P. Swaraj, who works with an infotech company near Mindspace Junction.

No rebate

“There should have been some sort of rebate for the dutiful middle-class taxpayer. When all the prices are at an upward trend, inflation is at an all-time high, tax is levied on every single thing, why is it that there is a rebate only for people having a taxable income of less than ₹5 lakh,” he asked.

Others were more sanguine, saying that the government had limited options due the pandemic and its impact on economy.

“This is a business-as-usual budget with focus on accelerating capita investment in focused sectors, which may give results in medium to long term. The income tax regime is as per my expectation, considering the impact of the pandemic. In near future, the government of India will not touch this as it is a major source of revenue for the government,” said Ramesh Turka, who works with an accounting firm.