Nilabja Bhattacharya

SWE II @phonepe | alumni @iiit_Hyderabad | ex- @samsung @oracle | Opinions are personal!

[EngiNerd. @mainbhiengineer]

One IAS officer started doing just his duty, not even anything extra, simple duty and things are changing.

Imagine the level of safety and satisfaction in public if even 50% Sarkari Babus start doing their job honestly.

[Aaraynsh @aaraynsh]

Filed my ITR today.

Paid income tax more than my fresher year CTC.

In return, now I'll have to struggle to get my own PF money back. Can't send my future kids to government school because we all know the condition. Can't depend on a government hospital if I want good treatment. To drive on good roads, still have to pay toll. Have to buy an air purifier and water purifier because air and water around me are polluted.

Feels very unrewarding to be a taxpayer. There should be some reward for people who pay a good chunk of their income in taxes every year.

[kashish ᥫ᭡.ִֶָ𓂃 @kashish_cfc]

Filed my ITR today. Paid a 7-digit tax amount in the last financial year. I have been paying taxes for the last 6-7 years. Honestly, where is that money going? The public infrastructure is deteriorating month by month. It feels like the taxes I paid is evaporating into thin air. I could have gone on 3 Europe tours with that money. But it would be too selfish of me to think in that way. I'm fine with paying taxes. It’s my responsibility. But in return, we don't get the bare minimum.

[EngiNerd. @mainbhiengineer]

Expectations: We are paying one third of our salary as income tax to Govt, making mandatory contribution to PF, in return atleast we should get some social security, retirement benefits, compensation in case of layoffs.

Reality: most of the time EPFO website itself is down and if you're lucky to raise a claims using their website, Govt Babus will delay or reject your claims just for no reason.

The situation is so bad that if you get your own money from EPFO on time, you feel like you won something.

It feels like a criminal to be a income tax payer in this country because that's how we are being treated.

[Harshit Jain @jain_harshit]

Filing ITR feels so depressing.

Paying lakhs of rupees and in return you don’t even have access to clean air, water and now fuel 🥲

[EngiNerd. @mainbhiengineer]

How brutally this Govt is exploiting income tax payers. An example.

> Before 2017, there were no surcharge on Income upto 1 crore.
> Modi Govt reduced the limit and started surcharge from 50L onwards.
> So, taxpayers need to pay 10% extra tax on top of Income tax already paid and 4% cess.

In 2017 a rent of 2BHK in top cities were around 20K, now in 2026 it's somewhere 50K. The inflation has raised atleast 2-3x. 50L in 2017 is atleast 1.25cr in 2026 but surcharge limit isn't adjusted accordingly. It's still at 50L in 2026 which was 1cr before 2017 🥲

Count how badly and at how many levels this Govt is taxing us.

income tax -> then surcharge -> then health and education cess -> then exemption limit reduced to half -> then limit not adjusted to inflation -> then GST as you spend money.

With visible and invisible tax Govt tax atleast 6 times to income taxpayer for a single rupee earned and still give nothing in return.

[Niraj Dugar @contliving]

A company earning ₹1 crore profit pays 25.17% tax. Flat. No slabs. No surcharge games. ₹10 crore profit? Still 25.17%.

An individual earning ₹1 crore salary pays 28.1%. Earning ₹1.5 crore? 31.6%. Earning ₹2 crore? 32.6%. (Approx tax rates)

Same country. Same tax department. The company gets a flat rate. The individual gets punished for earning more.
And the company deducted rent, travel, internet, training, equipment, meals before arriving at that profit number.

The individual?

Taxed on gross. ₹75,000 standard deduction. That’s it.

The salaried professional is taxed on revenue. The company is taxed on profit.

How should it be?

Basic exemption: ₹25 lakhs. After that, flat 25%. No slabs. No surcharge. No cess.

What this looks like?

₹40 lakh salary. Tax on ₹15 lakhs at 25% = ₹3.75 lakhs.

Effective rate: 9.4%.

₹60 lakh salary. Tax on ₹35 lakhs at 25% = ₹8.75 lakhs. Effective rate: 14.6%.

₹1 crore salary. Tax on ₹75 lakhs at 25% = ₹18.75 lakhs.

Effective rate: 18.75%.

₹2 crore salary. Tax on ₹1.75 crores at 25% = ₹43.75 lakhs.

Effective rate: 21.9%.

The effective rate never crosses 25%. No individual pays more than a company on the same income.
Simple. No 80C circus. No regime comparison every April. One exemption. One rate. File in 10 minutes.

What do you think?

[Muthukrishnan Dhandapani @dmuthuk]

Though the ruling party’s ecosystem praises Nirmala Sitharaman as the best finance minister, I have explained many times, with details, why she is the worst finance minister in post liberalised India.

I was not surprised when she said that the NEET re-exam gave students an opportunity to prepare further.

She has always been insensitive, arrogant, and completely detached from the reality of day to day India.

[The Exploited TaxPayer @IndiaNewGen]

Had we came together, you wouldn't be paying the surcharge, your 80c, home loan would be 5L by now, 30% would have started from 1 cr, no tax on pf interest, nps, ltcg.

We were cowards. She made us feared. IT department took more money from us than we saved & still calls us chor.

[Roshan Rai @RoshanKrRaii]

Finance Minister of India is explaining the benefit of Paper leak.

Agriculture Minister is explaining the benefits of Falling Rupee.

Petroleum Minister is talking about Defence.

Transport Minister is busy in producing Ethanol.

Elect clowns, Expect non stop circus 🤣

[Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj @DeepikaBhardwaj]

In any Developed nation, a Minister in the place of Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan would have taken the responsibility for the failure of his Ministry and stepped down long time back.

I wonder why BJP chose to escalate it to this and remained blind & deaf to the simmering unrest in students for so long

It was an absolutely peaceful demonstration until today. Easy to blame the protesters but they were trying to get heard for almost a month. Actions have reactions.

Such brutal acts by Police is wrong. Not justifying any violence or hooliganism by protesters too.

Simply saying government can't be so blind to issues masses are raising and be in a lala land saying sab changa si

[Harshit Jain @jain_harshit]

Instead of firing the Education Minister over a CONFIRMED paper leak, the government deployed riot police against students asking for accountability.

The barricades aren't protecting Parliament.

They're protecting incompetence.

[Manoj Arora @manoj_216]

We justify our taxes by comparing with other countries.
But forget to compare the returns that the taxpayers get in those countries.

UK provides monthly financial support + housing support while unemployed.
France provides unemployment benefits that replace a significant portion of previous earnings.
Canada pays around 55% of average weekly earnings for a limited period while searching for work.
Australia provides financial assistance along with employment assistance and training programs.
Japan, Korea etc. provides unemployment benefits.
Germany provides two-thirds of income replacement.
.... and the list is never ending.

[Venkatesh Alla @venkat_fin9]

A 10% surcharge on top of income tax for those earning above ₹50 lakh is an inhuman and cruel way of punishing hardworking taxpayers for earning more. The Government and @FinMinIndia seem to have completely lost their common sense by continuing such excessive taxation. Instead of rewarding ambition and hard work, they penalize success. Absolutely the worst Finance Ministry! @nsitharaman @nsitharamanoffc @nsitharaman

[EngiNerd. @mainbhiengineer]

Thank to Sourav Joshi, after he claimed that his car mileage dropped by 70%, ethanol supporters are now accepting that 70% drop is fake, at max 20% drop can happen with E20.

Earlier when people were claiming that there are 20% mileage drop, ministry was telling that there is 2-3% drop.

And before that ministry was not even ready to accept that any mileage drop is happening, in fact it was told that Ethanol increase acceleration, it is used in racing cars and helps middle class.

When you don't follow compliance, don't talk on fact or reports, implement the policy randomly, this is how bargain happens, you say one number, other party will say another number and in the end settle on a random number.

Local market ki shopping bana ke rakh diya hai petrol and mileage ko.

[Gaurav Pradhan 🇮🇳 @OfficeOfDGP]

Centre to Supreme Court: E20 ethanol blending is still an experimental initiative, with comprehensive results and impact assessment expected next year.

@nitin_gadkari ji experimenting on people's hard-earned money by screwing up their bikes and Cars

What should be done in Labs

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

Vehicle buyers pay huge upfront taxes, fees, and cesses. In return, they deserve the basic right to buy the exact fuel their vehicle engines were designed to run on.

If the govt wanted to "experiment" with E20 fuel, they should have done it responsibly by either buying a sample fleet of second-hand cars to test in a controlled settings or invite willing citizens to opt-in using subsidized fuel.

Forcing a mandatory policy onto everyone first and checking if it damages their engines later is outrageous. Treating the entire public as involuntary test subjects is a massive overreach.

[Nachiket Deshpande @nachiket1982]

To the public: "E20 fuel is safe and fully tested."
To the Supreme Court: "It’s just an experiment, we’ll know results next year."

The government completely lied about E20 readiness. They rushed this rollout to serve vested interests and corporate logistics, leaving millions of everyday vehicle owners to act as guinea pigs in a forced, destructive trial. Complete betrayal of public trust. #EthanolScam

https://t.co/yc1K1mB6xM

[Venkatesh Alla @venkat_fin9]

Good Morning! EPFO deducts 12% of my salary 'for my future.' Income tax takes 30% 'for the nation's future.' My present is looking very bleak.

[EngiNerd. @mainbhiengineer]

Nirmala Sitharaman may be asked to leave Finance ministry because she has exploited honest income tax payers more than what they could take.

I'll comeback later why "no income tax upto 12L" later is a gimmick. let's first see what all taxes Modi Govt increased since 2014.

> Introduced surcharge of 10% on income above 50Lakhs, this was above 1 crore earlier. With inflation as value of money goes down ideally limit should be increased but this Govt brought limit to half instead 😭

> Health and education cess increased from 3% to 4% with absolutely no improvement both services.
> LTCG was zero, it increased to 12.5%
> STCG was 15%, it increased to 20%
> STT increased as high as 400% in some section
> Indexation removed from Debt funds and taxed at slab rate now.
> SGB from secondary market taxed
> No adjustments to old tax regime based on inflation. We are still paying many years old rates.
> Govt kept taxing exiting taxpayers with additional tax without adding much new taxpayers.

The no tax upto 12L is a gimmick because once you cross more than 12L income you've to pay from 4L onwards. And if you're a high earner with home loan etc, you may still pay lesser tax in inflation adjusted old regime than new regime.

Changing ministers may change the face but not the pain that has been introduced to honest taxpayers over the years.