New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday moved the amendment to the Finance Bill to reintroduce indexation benefits on 20 per cent LTCG on real estate transactions. During her speech before moving the amendment, Sitharaman fielded a range of issues related to the Budget and the broader financial sector.
Having recently received a proposal, forwarded by her colleague minister for highways Nitin Gadkari, to consider a rollback of GST on life and health insurance, the finance minister said that insurance had always been taxed in India. Holding forth on the issue, Sitgaraman said that medical insurance in India was taxed even before GST was rolled out. She asked the Opposition to answer whether they had considered the rollback of GST on medical insurance in states ruled by them.
What Nitin Gadkari said
Gadkari in a letter forwarded to the finance minister seemed to have backed a proposal by the Nagpur LIC union to remove the levy of indirect tax on life insurance premiums paid.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also voiced support to the proposal calling the tax ‘bad’, and adding that it affected the general public’s need to address its basic needs. Calling it “anti-people GST”, Banerjee said they will be “bound to hit the road” against the tax on life and medical insurance.
Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said the proposal will help to widen insurance penetration in India. GST on insurance products made them costlier and affected their utility as modes of savings and social cover, he added.
Finance minister on LTCG and new tax regime
Finance minister Sitharaman reiterated that Budget 2024 sought to simplify taxation for the salaried class by introducing a lower long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) on real estate transactions by removing indexation benefits. She said the new tax regime for Income Tax assessment was also welcomed by taxpayers with 72.8 per cent of returns filed under the new tax regime.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said medical and life insurance were always taxed by states in India. She reiterated that the modi government sought to constantly simplify tax payments for taxpayers. Personal Finance Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
