New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed that taxes not be raised amid the Covid – 19 pandemic. Speaking to the media persons after presenting the budget 2022 – 23 in Parliament she said that PM Modi’s instruction was very clear no additional taxes.

Accordingly, Income tax slabs have not been changed in this budget. She also proposed that both Centre and States Government employees’ tax deduction limit be increased from 10% to 14%. This will help State Government employees with social security benefits and bring them at par with the Central Government employees, she said. The Government said the budget aims to boost economic growth amid the continued disruption from the Covid – 19 pandemic and the rising inflation. She also said this budget – 2022-23 will be a blueprint to steer economy from India@75 to India@100.

The budget this time includes a huge push for infrastructure and estimates the effective capital expenditure of the Central Government at ₹ 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, comprising around 4.1% of the GDP. Speaking on Government’s revenue, she said the gross GST collections for January is ₹ 1, 40,986 crore the highest since the inception of the tax in 2017. Government will soon be issuing a digital rupee using the block chain technology by the RBI starting 2022-23, which will be a big boost for economy. Income from the transfer of any virtual digital asset will be taxed at the rate of 30%.