The Delhi Congress on Saturday slammed the Union Budget 2015 for pinching the common man by hiking the service tax while the Delhi BJP welcomed it as growth-oriented and pro-salaried tax payers.

Delhi unit president Satish Upadhyay said the rebates announced on the savings and medical expenses will benefit the middle class and now, the people earning around Rs 4.4 lakh per year, may not be liable to pay income tax.

He said the announcement that the seventh pay commission will submit its recommendation next year is also a ray of hope for them.

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh said the hike in service tax will hit everyone. “It will make everything costly,” he said. Leader of BJP legislature party Vijender Gupta said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made sure that the budget was both socially sensitive and fiscally prudent.

With assured universal social security of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and low cost pension under Atal Pension Yojana, the government has articulated its honest intention of raising people out of vicious cycle of deep-rooted poverty, he said.

Jaitley reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision
of housing for all by 2022 which is also the 75th year of India’s independence, he said.

The Finance Minister in his Budget speech has articulated government’s commitment on the issue of black money.

A slew of measures has been taken to curb the flow of black money, including heavily penalising those involved in money laundering and encouraging cashless transactions, Gupta said.

This will strengthen the fight against corruption and introduce high level of transparency in the system, he said.

Gupta said the Budget takes forward Modi’s vision of making Indian economy globally competitive, creating jobs for the youth, empowering the states and inclusive development.