by tapati ghosethe indian economy has been resilient during and post the pandemic and is slowly returning to normalcy from an individuals perspective the first expectation would be to spur investments and savings and the government would do well to channel these in the right direction this could be put into effect in a few ways expectation 1 revision of tax slab ratesas per current incometax provisions the highest slab rate after including surcharge and cess for income exceeding rs 5 crores in india is 42744 this is significantly higher than some of the countries in asia pacific to name a few the highest tax rate for hongkong is 17 that of singapore is 22 while in malaysia it is 30 the tax rates for individuals have not been changed since fy 201718 apart from the new tax regime which is subject to onerous conditions hence to give more purchasing power to individuals and provide some tax relief it is expected that the highest tax rate of 30 be reduced to 25 and the threshold limit for the highest tax rate be increased from rs 10 lakhs to rs 20 lakhs with this the highest slab rate including surcharge and cess may be reduced to 3562 from 42744similar changes may be considered under the new regime for annual income of rs 15 lakhs and above as wellexpectation 2 increasing the limit for various deductionswith the intent to incentivise the lower and middle class that have faced the most hardship during covid the government is expected to relook at the deductions that are currently available and that have remained unchanged for several yearssection 80c of the act for paymentsinvestments towards life insurance premia contributions to provident fund subscription to certain equity shares or debentures etc is capped at rs 150000 with increase in cost of living and increase in inflation the government should look at increasing the limit under section 80c to rs 250000 this will have twofold benefit individual taxpayers would be willing to save more and in turn will benefit from a lower tax outgo thereby increasing their disposable income to meet the rise in prices of various commoditiessection 80d deduction in respect of health insurance premium is capped at rs 25000rs 50000 considering the increase in the cost of medical treatment and insurances the erstwhile limit under this section is expected to be revisitedsection 80tta allows deduction of up to rs 10000 in the hands of individuals and hufs in respect of interest on savings account with banks post offices and with cooperative societies carrying on business of banking this benefit should be extended to all types of bank deposits including fixed deposits further the limit should be increased from rs 10000 to rs 50000section 80eea in order to avail a deduction in respect of affordable housing loans should be sanctioned during the period april 2019 to march 2022 with the rise in demand for residential real estate in metropolitan and tierii cities it is