Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 26 February 2018 | Page 60

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A budget for
Senior CitizenS
Elderly tax-payers have emerged as the chief
beneficiaries of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s
personal tax proposals
W
e need not have waited for this Budget
with bated breath or misplaced notion
that the middle class was going to
benefit from the Budget.
It has something for everyone, but the ones benefitting
the most are the farmers, certain underprivileged
groups, rural population and poorer sections of the
society. The middle class has quite mercilessly been
cut out. The salaried class has been given a standard
deduction of `40,000 in lieu of the transportation and
medical allowance, which collectively make up `34,200
currently. Hence, the effective deduction benefit stands
at just `5,800. This effective benefit will depend on
the tax brackets one falls into. Moreover, even this
saving will evaporate if we consider the increase in the
education cess from 3 per cent to 4 per cent.
Long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax has been
introduced on equity-oriented assets at 10 per cent
(without indexation) for gains exceeding `1 lakh in a
year. The customs duty also goes up as social welfare
SureSh Sadagopan
Founder, Ladder7
Financial Advisories
surcharge of 10 per cent has been introduced in place
of the education cess of 3 per cent, effectively making
imports costlier. Customs duty on mobile phones has
been increased from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, and
some parts and accessories of television sets and mobile
handsets are now going to be charged at 15 per cent.
So, the question is, who benefits from the Budget
announcements? If I were to look for one category that
has benefited the most, it would be senior citizens. Let
us see how.
The exemption on interest income from fixed deposits
and post office schemes has been increased to `50,000
Senior citizens can benefit from the
increase in exemption on interest
income from fixed deposits and
post office schemes from `10,000
to `50,000
Basic premium For Senior Citizens (Two Individuals)
`5-lakh Sum
assured `3-lakh Sum
assured
Apollo Munich Easy Health `51,463 `41,219
Bajaj Allianz Health Guard `51,806 `39,782
Star Family Health Optima Insurance Plan `37,931 `31,400
ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance `55,768 `49,692
National Mediclaim New Policy `34,844 `23,572
health Insurance product
60 OutlOOk 26 February 2018