Budget 2017 may give individual, corporate tax payers a cheer, here’s how

Union Budget 2017 may make individuals and corporate taxpayers happy as the government is now looking forward to make things cheerful after what happened post demonetisation. The measures will be targeted on reviving demand and stimulating private investment to boost overall growth.

The measures that can be taken into consideration are revamping of the income-tax framework for individuals to increase their take home pay, thus persuading them to start buying more goods and services, and a reduction in the corporate tax rate to encourage companies to invest.

"There are multiple proposals on the table. The government is keen on enhancing the purchasing power of people to boost demand,” a government official, told ET.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has estimated that the economy will grow 7.1% in the current financial year, slower than 7.6% last year, but this forecast didn't include the impact of demonetisation.

However, private estimates suggest the economy could do worse and may need a stimulus.

"Some fiscal stimulus measures to embed a feel-good factor and stimulate consumption and investment could be taken up. An expected increase in the tax base due to the surge of bank deposits post demonetisation as also GST (goods and services tax) introduction may give leeway to the government in this regard,” Sudhir Kapadia, national tax leader, EY, told ET.

The emphasis is therefore likely to be in favour of widening tax brackets and enhancing deductions such as those on housing loans, something that would also perk up the flagging real estate sector.

Another thing that is being considered is widening slabs or cutting rates for the lowest bracket, which could enhance compliance by encouraging people to pay tax.

The lowest slab of 10% is on annual income of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and 20% from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Above Rs 10 lakh, tax is levied at 30%.

Policymakers contend that while the government intensifies efforts to bring more people within the tax net, it needs to reward those who have been paying taxes diligently. Only 3.91 crore people filed tax returns in FY15, out of which 1.83 crore paid an average tax of Rs 26,000.

So the Rs 2.5-5 lakh slab could be widened and may be even taxed at a lower rate. The reintroduction of standard deduction, which had been abolished by former finance minister P Chidambaram in the FY06 budget, is also under consideration.