Tag Archives: Tax Reform

News

India lowers income taxes and increases deductions for savings

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The story is here from the Times of India, sent to me by Shalini.

Changes to tax rates

Here are the current tax rates:

Now 10 per cent is levied on incomes of Rs 1.6-3 lakh, 20 per cent on Rs 3-5 lakh and 30 per cent above Rs 5 lakh.

Here are the new rates:

The government on Wednesday initiated radical tax reforms through a draft code that aims at moderating income tax rates, abolishing Securities Transaction Tax and increasing deduction for savings up to Rs three lakh. The new Direct Taxes Code has suggested a significant expansion of personal income-tax slabs, with levels of relief going up with incomes.

Releasing the Direct Taxes Code that will ultimately replace the over four-decades old Income Tax Act and bring all other direct taxes like wealth tax under its purview, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said if reasonable level of discussion happens on the code, a bill could be placed in the winter session of Parliament.

The Code said that the 10 per cent tax rate should apply to an annual income of Rs 1.6-10 lakh per annum and the 20 per cent rate to Rs 10-25 lakh.

The maximum rate of 30 per cent, it added, should apply to income above Rs 25 lakh per annum.

The new rates, it said, “are expected to yield the existing level of revenues with the revised comprehensive tax base proposed in this code”.

Indian tax brackets

Here are my calculations… are they wrong?

First bracket (10%): 1.6 to 10 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = up to 20,000 USD.

Second bracket (20%): 10 to  25 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = up to 50,000 USD.

Third bracket (30%): over 25 lakh = 10 x 100,000 rupees = 1,000,000 rupees = over 50,000 USD.

Changes to encourage more saving

Not only are they slashing income tax rates but they are increasing the deductions for savings.

I can’t believe this. India is doing everything RIGHT and we are doing everything WRONG. Even Canada is signing free trade deals, while Inspector Clouseau is trying to make us into North Korea. India is buying arms, we’re cutting the F-22 and missile defense.

News

Conservative Marco Rubio announces for Florida Senate seat

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I spotted this over on the Maritime Sentry, a conservative policy-oriented blog.

Excerpt:

This gives the voters of Florida a chance to elect a true Conservative. Marco Rubio already has a record of standing on principle and being an articulate spokesman for Conservative ideals. Here is his official announcement video.

The video:

Cuban-Americans are SO CONSERVATIVE! They know the dangers of progressive policies.

I also noticed that the fiscal conservatives at the Club for Growth are pretty excited as well!

Excerpt:

Rubio, a young Cuban-American, highlighted his conservative record in a recent interview with the Club for Growth – including efforts to overhaul Florida’s tax system, reduce property taxes, and decrease the size of government.

“His fiscally responsible, pro- growth approach in the State Capitol stands in stark contrast with other elements of the state government, led by Charlie Crist” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola.

Also from the Washington Independent’s David Weigel, good news for Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania: (H/T Club For Growth)

The campaign of Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Pat Toomey announced that is has raised “raised over half a million dollars from over four thousand contributors” since the candidate entered the race on April 15. A hard number would be more interesting, but the campaign is backing up what a campaign worker told me (anonymously, for some reason) on the day of the the Specter switch: that the Website was deluged with donations.

Looking good for 2010!

UPDATE: I found even MORE good news over on the Anchoress’ blog. She has a post filled with interesting links, including a link to a recent Pew Research poll. The poll shows that the public is becoming more supporting of the pro-life view and the pro-legal-gun-ownership view.

For the first time in a Pew Research survey, nearly as many people believe it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns (45%) than to control gun ownership (49%). As recently as a year ago, 58% said it was more important to control gun ownership while 37% said it was more important to protect the right to own guns.

…Currently, 46% say abortion should be legal in most cases (28%) or all cases (18%); 44% believe that abortion should be illegal in most (28%) or all cases (16%).

So, some things are going well!