Shashi Tharoor dubs the budget as “underwhelming”, welcomes proposal to abolish angel tax

New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called the Union Budget 2024-25, presented on Tuesday, as “underwhelming” and said that there was no mention of key issues facing the common man.

Tharoor welcomed the budget proposal to abolish the angel tax and claimed that he recommended the same to former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley five years ago.

“It is an underwhelming budget. I didn’t hear anything about the key issues facing the common man. There is no mention of MNREGA, and insufficient mention of steps taken to improve the income of a common person,” Tharoor told ANI on Tuesday.

He said that “far too little” was seen in addressing income disparity and added that a “token gesture” was made on job creation.

“I welcome only one provision, which is abolishing of tax on angel investors. I had recommended it to Arun Jaitley more than 5 years ago,” the Congress MP said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the Government was only looking at saving its own position

“I think this budget should be called ‘PM Sarkaar Bachao Yojana’ because they have realised if they want to save this Govt for the next 5 years, they would need their alliance partners to be happy. After denying a special status to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, they have given them funds. Maharashtra continues to be ignored by the Centre. It has become a state where you keep taking in money from.” she said.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, “I understand the political compulsions of catering to the demands of their alliance partners from Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. They have also taken some elements from our manifesto, especially the apprentice scheme. They also announce many new schemes.”

On Tuesday, the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to abolish the so-called angel tax for all classes of investors.

This was a proposal from the industry for a long time, and this announcement will drive more investments towards startups in particular. Startups function as engines of economic growth, playing a crucial role in generating new jobs, ideas, products, and services.

As per definition, angel tax refers to the income tax levied by the government on funding raised by unlisted companies, or startups, if their valuation exceeds the company’s fair market value. This contentious tax typically impacts angel investment the most and therefore is called the angel tax.