Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress, invoking former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to claim that their governments imposed heavy taxes on people’s earnings, while his government has eased the tax burden and provided greater relief to the middle class.
While addressing a rally at RK Puram in Delhi, PM Modi said, “Let me present a picture before you. It will help you understand better and make it easier to explain to others. If we look at this budget—back in Nehru Ji’s time, if you earned ₹12 lakh, the government would take away one-fourth of your salary as tax. If this were Indira Ji’s era, you would be shocked to hear that out of ₹12 lakh, nearly ₹10 lakh would go into taxes. That was the scenario back then, which is why I am explaining this today.”
Modi said that while a ₹12 lakh income meant paying ₹2.6 lakh in tax under Congress rule, the latest budget presented by his government ensures zero tax on the same earnings.
“Even 10–12 years ago, under a Congress government, if you earned ₹12 lakh, you had to pay ₹2,60,000 in taxes. Now, after yesterday’s BJP government budget, a person earning ₹12 lakh in a year will not have to pay even a single rupee in tax,” PM Modi added.
In the Union Budget 2025, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced that people earning up to ₹12 lakh per year will not have to pay income tax.
She said this was a step to help the middle class. With a ₹75,000 standard deduction, the tax-free income limit will effectively be ₹12.75 lakh.
“I am happy to announce that there will be no income tax on income up to ₹12 lakh [i.e. ₹1 lakh per month, excluding special rate income like capital gains] under the new regime,” she added.