The taxpayers who were hoping the Budget would lower their taxes by increasing deductions under Section 80 or giving more exemptions have been sorely disappointed. The Budget has not made any change in the old tax regime, but proposed some tweaks in the new tax regime to make it more attractive. The Budget may have also increased the tax outgo for many taxpayers by hiking the tax on capital gains and removing the indexation benefit that applied to property,hybrid mutual funds and gold.The Budget did not lower taxes for taxpayers who were hoping for increased deductions or more exemptions under Section 80. However, it proposed some changes to make the new tax regime more attractive, without making any changes to the old tax regime.
