most taxpayers are disappointed by p chidambarams robin hood budget while the superrich are fuming over the surcharge on incomes above rs 1 crore the middle income taxpayer is unhappy that the budget has neither raised the basic exemption nor raised the tax slabs even the tax saving limit under section 80c which was fixed in 2005 has not been revised and lowincome taxpayers in the 10 slab feel the tax credit of rs 2000 is not sufficient to take care of inflation in the past one year the finance minister has an enviable track record in presenting innovative tax policy proposals in the past so there is a sense of disappointment in not seeing any significant game changing tax proposals sudhir kapadia national tax leader at ernst young says last years budget had generously raised the tax exemption by rs 20000 for male taxpayers and gave additional exemption of up to rs 10000 to savings bank interest yet the budget proposals have their silver linings the extension of the rgess benefit to three years will help newbie investors save more tax also the scheme has now been extended to those with an annual income of up to rs 12 lakh this will bring more investors to the market sandesh kirkire ceo of kotak mutual fund says in the highest 30 tax slab an investor can save up to rs 7500 a year for up to three years the additional rs 1 lakh deduction on top of existing rs 15 lakh for interest paid on home loans of up to rs 25 lakh is another positive move this will help bring down the cost of borrowing for millions of home loan customers but will have a limited impact on lowvalue loans however raising the ddt on all nonequity mutual funds to 25 could hurt small investors ddt is levied before the dividend is paid and is irrespective of the income level of the investor investors in debt funds will have to shift to the growth option to avoid ddt and systematic withdrawal plans will become the default strategy rajiv bajaj vicechairman and managing director at bajaj capital says