A day before the presentation of the Union Budget 2025-26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at changes to the income tax slab rates when he tweeted, “I pray to Goddess Lakshmi that the poor and the middle-class sections in the country are blessed by her.” In her budget speech made in Parliament on Saturday, February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced “personal income tax reforms with special focus on the middle class.” The most notable of the proposed reforms was the extension of the ‘nil tax’ slab to Rs 12 lakh. She stated, “To taxpayers up to Rs 12...