Rubbishing Opposition criticism that Budget FY 2015-16 favoured the rich, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said tax concessions to corporates were necessary to bring in more investment that, in turn, could create jobs and remove poverty.
He, however, said that bringing down the corporation tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent was not his idea but was borrowed from the UPA’s Direct Tax Code, drafted by former finance minister P Chidambaram.
Jaitley was replying to the debate on the Appropriations Bill in the Lok Sabha. The bill was later passed by a voice vote. This completes the first phase of the budgetary exercise in the lower House of Parliament. A similar exercise will likely begin on Wednesday in the Upper House.
“I must confess this was not my original idea. I borrowed it from the UPA.The proposal was first made in the DTC by the then finance minister P Chidambaram. I said it is a good idea because in the rest of the world, it is 21 per cent. But when I bring it, Congress says it is pro-corporate,” Jaitley said. He dismissed that the Budget did not have pro-middle class and pro-poor measures.
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