The Hindu : BJP for more tax concessions for salaried class

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 29, 2002

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BJP for more tax concessions for salaried class

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 28. Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will take about a fortnight to firm up its views on the recommendations of the Kelkar task force on direct taxes, the party — while pleased with the scaling down of the earlier report — is likely to mount pressure on the Government for more concessions to the salaried class.

According to the BJP general secretary, Rajnath Singh, who heads the party panel to review the Kelkar recommendations, the salaried class should be encouraged to save more.

However, while indicating that the party was not in favour of removing the tax incentives on savings, he said he was confident that the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, would not do anything to harm the salaried class.

Repeatedly stating that the Kelkar task force had made only recommendations and that they were not binding on the Government, Mr. Singh expressed satisfaction with the proposal to lower excise duties as this would be beneficial to the masses. As for taxing agricultural income, he said the BJP was against it, adding that there was no way the Government could accept such a recommendation. "Anyway, it is a State subject and, therefore, outside the purview of the Centre." Further, the BJP panel to review the task force recommendations was scheduled to meet on January 5. "We will be ready with our recommendations within a fortnight," he said.

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