On Tuesday, Congressmen P Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor charged that the BJP-led NDA government had copied the pledges made in the party's election manifesto and included them in the budget statement. But one statement from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seemed to appease the two senior leaders.

Congressman Shashi Tharoor called the Union Budget 2024 "underwhelming" but praised the idea to remove the angel tax, claiming that he had advised former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to do so five years ago.

Union Budget 2024
Image Source: Shiksha

According to him, Sitharaman overlooked the main problems that the average person faces.
"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," he told ANI. According to Shashi Tharoor, far too little was done to close the income gap.

Additionally, he called the Center's budgetary push for employment a "token gesture".
Nonetheless, he applauded Sitharaman's declaration to do away with the Angel Tax.

"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.

P Chidambaram, a former finance minister in the UPA government, said he was pleased to hear her announcement on the angle tax. However, he said it was part of the Congress party's manifesto

Union Budget 2024
Image Source: Inc42

"I was pleased to hear that the FM will abolish the Angel Tax. Congress has pleaded for the abolition for many years and most recently in the Congress Manifesto on page 31 am glad to know that the Hon'ble FM has read the Congress Manifesto LS 2024 after the election results. I am happy she has virtually adopted the Employment-linked incentive (ELI) outlined on page 30 of the Congress Manifesto. I am also happy that she has introduced the Apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. I wish the FM had copied some other ideas in the Congress Manifesto. I shall shortly list the missed opportunities" he posted on X.

Angel Tax

This contested tax often has the most significant influence on angel investment, hence the name "angel tax".It was launched by the UPA government in 2012 to detect money laundering and catch fraudulent companies.

In 2018, the government issued a notification exempting startups from the relevant part of the Income Tax Act provided their total investment, including backing from angel investors, did not exceed Rs 10 crore. Ahead of the Union Budget, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has suggested that this startup charge be eliminated.

The Income Tax Department announced new angel tax guidelines in September of last year, including a mechanism for evaluating shares granted to investors by unlisted firms.

Previously, the angel tax—a tax charged on cash obtained on the sale of shares of a startup beyond the fair market value—applied solely to local investors, but the Budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year (April 2023 to March 2024) expanded its scope to include foreign investments. More than 1.17 lakh startups are registered with the government. They are eligible for incentives under the government's Startup India initiative.

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