Union Budget 2018: Jaitley says key objective was helping agriculture and rural sector, defends LTCG tax

Union Finance Minister addressed a press-conference post his budget speech. These are some of the main points outlined by Arun Jaitley

1.Budget blends fiscal prudence with requirement of consonancy

2. Key objective was to help agriculture and rural sector

3. Second objective was to help people who are financially disadvantaged. Jaitley cites schemes like Ujjwala and Health Insurance scheme among others as steps taken to help the poor.

4. Regarding taxation, Jaitley says they have helped three major classes. Relaxation for business class, standard deduction for salaried class and relief for the pensioners.

5. Jaitley says social security net has to be created and resources have to be available for that. The 1% extra surcharge is for that purpose.

6. Jaitley defends taxation on LTCG saying money is needed to fund the major schemes. He says only gain in capital from February 1 that will be liable for LTCG tax.

7. The budget proposes an institutional mechanism to fix the emoluments of the elected members, thereby addressing the criticism that they fix their own salaries, says Arun Jaitley.

8. Step by step, in every budget, I have been putting surplus money in the hands of the middle-class taxpayer: Arun Jaitley

9. Jaitley says he is …read more