Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday slammed reports that the Union budget for 2023-24 was ‘not good enough’ and that it offered little in terms of support for the middle class. Responding to a reporter’s question on opposition leaders’ criticism, the finance minister expressed utter disbelief and went: “Whaaat?”

The reporter had asked Sitharaman: “Opposition parties have been calling this ‘nil battey sannata’ (good for nothing) budget… they said [it is] not good enough.”

UNION BUDGET 2023: FULL COVERAGE

To this the finance minister pressed the reporter for specifics, asking for details about the opposition’s criticism. “For what reasons (are opposition parties saying this)… if I may know?”

An amused finance minister then quickly moved on from the question.

Does Budget 2023 benefit the middle class?

In her crucial Budget presentation, a year ahead of the next general elections, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending this decade.

Read more | Decoding FM Sitharaman’s Budget 2023 in numbers

In one of the biggest announcements for the “hardworking middle-class”, as Sitharaman said at the Parliament today, the new Budget offered some relief to the middle class by increasing the rebate threshold in the new personal income tax structure. As a result, there will now be no tax levied for income up to ₹7 lakh, instead of ₹5 lakh, if opted for the new tax regime.

The government also revamped the concessional tax regime and announced that there will be no tax levied for income up to ₹3 lakh. Further, income between ₹3-6 lakh would be taxed at 5 per cent; ₹6-9 lakh at 10 per cent, ₹9-12 lakh at 15 per cent, ₹12-15 lakh at 20 per cent and income of ₹15 lakh and above will be taxed at 30 per cent, the finance minister announced.

For the salaried class and the pensioners including family pensioners, finance minister Sitharaman also extended the benefit of standard deduction to the new tax regime. Now, each salaried person with an income of ₹15.5 lakh or more will stand to benefit by ₹52,500.

Sitharaman also proposed to cut the highest surcharge rate to 25% from 37.5% under the new income tax regime, making the maximum income tax rate about 39 per cent, down from 42.7 per cent, which was among the highest tax rates in the world.

Apart from this, the finance minister also announced that the limit of ₹3 lakh for tax exemption on leave encashment on retirement of non-government salaried employees will be increased to ₹25 lakh. The limit has been proposed for revision for the first time since 2002.