NEW DELHI: The new income tax bill, which will be presented in Parliament next week, will aim to make the IT Act relevant to the 21st century, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Sunday. In an exclusive interview to TOI, a day after she presented her 8th consecutive Union Budget, Sitharaman asserted that the tax relief unveiled by her was meant to honour the honest taxpayer. She said it was not wise to keep loading the narrow tax base with taxes. “But it is also equally upon us to widen the base and keep newer people coming in,” she added.
On the proposed revamp of the I-T Act, she said, “It will be a comprehensive approach to making it relevant to the 21st century, to an era which is technology-driven, where the taxpayer is most often doing it himself. For a citizen to be able to deal with the income tax on his own, the system should be simple enough for him to handle. This is what we are working towards.”
She added that the effort was also to build trust between the tax department and the taxpayer and detailed several measures unveiled in the Budget towards that end.
Sitharaman said govt would implement the 8th Pay Commission from Jan 1, 2026. “The recommendations will be implemented at least for the core salary.”
The FM also said macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong, which will help ensure that growth continues and insulate the country against global uncertainties.
