As yet another budget rolls up, the usual expectation of a tax cut has reared its head again among the Indian middle-class that continues to seek a cut in the burden that they carry disproportionately for all those who don’t. Personal income taxes, paid by less than 5% of the total population, pulled 19% of the almost ₹45 trillion total budget burden in 2023-24, or just over 30% of the total tax revenue and over half the direct taxes collected. But other than a small tinkering with slabs and rates, don’t expect anything drastic in this budget or future ones, and from this government or future ones.
