By IANS,
New Delhi : Any major change either in direct or indirect tax rates is unlikely in the annual budgets in the coming years as the government is seeking to bring in consistency in policy through reforms proposed.
“Now there will be hardly any variation in the taxation policy. The proposed reforms like Direct Tax Code and Goods and Services Tax will bring consistency in tax rates,” Shaktikanta Das, Joint Secretary, Budget, in the finance ministry told reporters here Tuesday.
This will make Part B of the annual budget speech by the finance minister, which deals with tax proposals shorter.
Das said overall duration of the annual budget speech would also come down substantially as the government was trying to bring in predictability in the policies.
“There will be less variations in overall policies, especially if it is related to taxation,” Das added.
The Direct Tax Code, which proposes to increase the limit of income exempt from tax to Rs.2 lakh from the current Rs.1.6 lakh for individuals, was presented in the monsoon session of Parliament last month. Once approved by both houses, it will become effective from April 1, 2012.
The government also aims to bring predictability in indirect tax policies through introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It seeks to bring uniformity in indirect tax policies throughout the country.