New Delhi, July 6 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed an increase in the personal income tax exemption limits by Rs. 15,000 for senior citizens from Rs. 2.25 lakh to Rs.2.40 lakh.

Further, he proposed to raised the exemption limits by Rs.10,000 from Rs.1.80 lakh to Rs.1.90 lakh for women taxpayers and from Rs.1.50 lakh to Rs.1.60 lakh for all other categories of individual tax payers.

Mukherjee also said that he proposes to increase the deduction under Section 80-DD to Rs.1 lakh from the present limit of Rs.75,000 in respect of maintenance including medical treatment of a dependent who is a person with severe disability.

The Minister recognized that surcharge of direct taxes should be removed as the Government has set out National Calamity Contingency Fund to build up resources to meet emergency situations.

Underlining that such removal has to be balanced with the revenue needs of the Government, Mukherjee said that in the first instance he propose to phase out the surcharge on direct taxes by eliminating the surcharge of 10 per cent on personal income tax.

Further, to make the process of income tax return form simple and user friendly, Mukherjee has asked his department work on SARAL II form for early introduction. (ANI)