Corporate Tax was not increased by Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2019-20 Budget

A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has increased the Corporate Tax in the Annual Budget 2019-20 and decreased it now. Amid the growing concerns over the economic slowdown, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on 20th September 2019 announced a slew of tax exemptions. In this context the following post is being shared widely. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.

Claim: Nirmala Sitharaman has increased the Corporate Tax in the Annual Budget 2019-20.

Fact: The Corporate Tax was not increased in the Annual Budget 2019-20. The lower rate of 25% Corporate Tax was extended to include all companies having an annual turnover up to Rs. 400 crores by the Finance Minister in the budget. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading

In the 2019-20 budget speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, it can be found that the lower ‘Corporate Tax of 25%’ was extended to include all companies having an annual turnover up to Rs. 400 crores (previously the limit was Rs. 250 crores). She also said that this measure will cover 99.3% of the companies. The same can be also found in newspaper articles. Also, the Corporate Tax was not increased for the remaining companies.

To sum it up, the Corporate Tax was not increased by Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget 2019-20.

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