High Income Group: ‘The Budget is a study in contrasts’

Name: Ranjit K. Jain

Profession: Distributors and channel partners

Number of family members: 4

Annual Income: ₹30 lakh

For a family in the ₹30-lakh income bracket, the Union Budget is a study in contrasts. While it delivers a major victory for our global aspirations, it remains stubbornly silent on the domestic tax relief we had anticipated to combat the rising cost of urban living.

As a family at the ₹30-lakh threshold, we are now firmly in the highest tax slab of 30% under the new tax regime. Our primary hope was for a ‘bracket stretch’ — moving the trigger to ₹35 lakh. Such a move would have instantly boosted the take-home pay of senior professionals, providing the liquidity needed for long-term investments like home down payments or retirement corpuses, which have been eroded by persistent inflation.

The announcement focussed rather on macro stability than on individual stimulus. With tax slabs and the standard deduction of ₹75,000 remaining unchanged, our domestic tax outgo remains a significant portion of our gross earnings.

The drastic reduction of Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on overseas tour packages and remittances to a flat 2% (down from 20%) is a game changer. For a family planning an overseas vacation or funding a child’s education abroad, this significantly reduces the upfront cash-flow burden.

This Budget feels like a strategic ‘pat on the back’ for the global traveller but the ‘cold shoulder’ to the local earner. It supports our dreams of international mobility while asking us to continue the heavy lifting of domestic tax revenue without any fresh relief.