BUFGET 2010:Consumers will have to pay more for petrol, diesel, cars, TVs, cigarettes, tobacco, air-conditioner, gold and silver

1. Tax slabs revised
   Giving a relief to the middle class Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Feb 26 revised the tax slabs for the next financial year.

The finance minister proposed the following slabs for individual tax payers:
There will be no tax for income upto Rs 1.6 lakh. This was the same earlier.
For income between 1.6 lakh - 5 lakh, the tax liability will be 10%. The older slab was 1.6 - 3 lakh.
For income between 5 lakh - 8 lakh, the tax liability will be 20%. Earlier 20% tax was deducted on Rs 3-5 lakh income.
Individuals with income of above Rs 8 lakh will have tax liability of 30%. Earlier 30% was deducted on income of Rs 5 lakh and above.
The government would allow a deduction of up to Rs 20,000 for investments in long-term infrastructure bonds. The deduction would be in addition to Rs 100,000 allowed under Section 80C of India's Income Tax Act.

The proposal to reduce the tax slab will benefit 60 percent of all tax payers," he said and added that he wished to hike the minimum alternate tax (MAT) to 18 percent of book profits from the present 15 percent.

3. Custom duties & cess
   Service tax retained at 15 per cent. Customs duty on gold to go down. Customs duty on silver at Rs 1500/kg. Rationalisation of customs on gaming software. Uniform concessional duty of 5 per cent on all medical appliances. Excise revenues to grow Rs 43,500 cr. More services to be taxed. 5 per cent customs duty on crude petroleum product. Peak customs duty remains at 10 per cent. Excise duty on CFL goes down to 4 per cent. Cess of Rs 50/ton on Indian coal.
4. Consumers will have to pay more for petrol, diesel, cars, TVs, cigarettes, tobacco, air-conditioner, gold and silver as the government on Friday announced hike in excise duty as part of a partial roll back of stimulus measures announced for reviving the economy.

   On the other hand, mobile accessories, medical equipment energy efficient CFL lamps, set top boxes, compact disc, toys and books will be cheaper on account of some tax concessions offered on these items by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget for 2010-11.

   "Symptoms of economic recovery are widespread and more clear now," he said.

   Before announcing the tax measures, Mukherjee substantially cut income tax rates along with other direct tax concessions that would result in a net loss of Rs 26,000 crore to the exchequer.

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