Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress party on Tuesday alleged that the ruling BJOP 'broke the backbone of middle class' after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the union budget.
"BJP broke its own middle class backbone. BJP seized power over the souls of the middle class", the party tweeted. "For the last six years, the BJP has betrayed the middle class without any change in the tax slab", it added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dubbed the Union Budget for 2022-23 as a "zero-sum budget", saying it has nothing for the salaried, middle class and the poor.
His comments came soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in Parliament "M0di G0vernment's Zer0 Sum Budget! Nothing for - Salaried class, Middle class, the poor and deprived, Youth, Farmers and MSMEs," Gandhi said on Twitter.
Belying expectations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not tinker with the personal income tax rates in the Budget for 2022-23.
The minister also did not raise standard deduction, which was widely anticipated in view of elevated inflation levels and impact of the pandemic on the middle class.
The standard deduction currently stands at Rs 50,000.
There was no change income tax slabs in the personal income tax category in the Budget unveiled on Tuesday.
The corporate tax rate too was kept at the same level. However, concessional rate of 15 per cent has been extended by one year for newly incorporated manufacturing units.
