Under pressure from his party and NDA allies to appease the middle class, finance miinister Yashwant Sinha today partially restored the income tax rebate on specified savings to 15 per cent, allowed tax rebate for dividend income under section 80L up to Rs 9,000 and restricted the scope of the 5 per cent service tax only to the insurance risk premia.
Moving the Finance Bill, 2002 for consideration in the Lok Sabha, Sinha announced reliefs to the tune of Rs 2,157 crore: Rs 1,450 crore in indirect taxes, Rs 700 crore in direct taxes and Rs 7 crore in postal rates. Taken together with the Rs 700 crore announced earlier while reducing LPG price hike, the total tax concessions given amounts to Rs 2,857 crore.
Sinha described the give away as