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FM Nirmala Sitharaman had tabled the Union Budget 2024-25 on February 01, 2025 in the Parliament.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman (Left) & Shashi Tharoor (Right).
The veteran politician and MP Shashi Tharoor has taken a dig against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for Union Budget 2025, using the popular short-video format ‘Instagram Reel’. Taking the Coldplay-inspired metaphor, Tharoor, who is known for his sharp humour and wordsmith, criticized FM Sitharaman, saying, “Coldplay says ‘Fix You’, but the Finance Minister says ‘Tax You’.”
In the Instagram Reel with the title ‘Coldplay take on the Union Budget’, Tharoor said, “Coldplay says fix you, but the finance minister says tax you. Politely asks you to adjust if the only shone brightly as Coldplay’s lyrics. Instead it’s more like scientists, full of promises but ultimately leaves us to one question – Where did we go wrong? And as for deficit, even my moon googles can’t turn this disaster. Into sky full of stars, instead we’re getting a spreadsheet full of scars…”
In the Instragram post Tharoor wrote: “As the budget debate wraps up, let’s cut through the noise and face the facts: The GST still crushes essential items, income tax cuts are framed as a favour, and fuel prices remain a tangled mess of VAT, excise, and state taxes—with no real effort to fix the system. Who actually wins here?
People don’t mind taxes—if they bring value. We need policies that drive real growth, not just short-term fixes. Because right now, “nobody said it was easy”. #FiscalFix.”
FM Nirmala Sitharaman had tabled the Union Budget 2024-25 on February 01, 2025 in the Parliament.
Sitharaman proposed in the budget that there will be no income tax payable up to income tax of 12 lakh (i.e. average income of 1 lakh per month other than special rate income such as capital gains) under the new regime. This will be 12.75 lakh for salaried tax payers, due to standard deduction of Rs 75,000.
In the new tax regime, the proposed revise tax rate structure as follows:
0-4 lakh rupees – Nil
4-8 lakh rupees – 5 per cent
8-12 lakh rupees – 10 per cent
12-16 lakh rupees – 15 per cent
16-20 lakh rupees – 20 per cent
20- 24 lakh rupees – 25 per cent
Above 24 lakh rupees – 30 per cent
To tax payers upto ` 12 lakh of normal income (other than special rate income such as capital gains) tax rebate is being provided in addition to the benefit due to slab rate reduction in such a manner that there is no tax payable by them. The total tax benefit of slab rate changes and rebate at different income levels can be illustrated with examples. A tax payer in the new regime with an income of ` 12 lakh will get a benefit of ` 80,000 in tax (which is 100% of tax payable as per existing rates). A person having income of ` 18 lakh will get a benefit of ` 70,000 in tax (30% of tax payable as per existing rates).
A person with an income of ` 25 lakh gets a benefit of ` 1,10,000 (25% of his tax payable as per existing rates).
