74% support Budget tax on cryptos; 56% rue lack of personal tax relief

An online opinion survey on Union Budget 2022-23 suggests the government’s plans to tax digital assets and cryptocurrency transactions has enough support from the public. Of the 40,000 respondents the survey reached, 10,461 responded to the question on central government's proposal to tax digital assets. Out of these 10,461 respondents, 74% supported one or more of the government’s plans to tax digital assets and cryptocurrency transactions or RBI launching India’s digital currency.

At least 56% of the respondents were disappointed with the Budget because no relief was granted in personal taxes.

While 7% of the respondents said the Budget, presented by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, was far above their expectations, 10% said it was above their expectations. Another 25% said it met their expectations. While 30% said it is below expectations, 26% of the respondents said it was “far below”.

The survey was carried out by LocalCircles, a community social media platform. The study received more than 40,000 responses from citizens residing in 342 districts of India. 66% respondents were men while 34% respondents were women. 42% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2, and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts, LocalCircles said.

Among the other questions, the one on health — whether the increase in allocation of budget for healthcare was sufficient enough to handle the pandemic — saw 9,927 people submit their responses. While 48% felt the allocation was insufficient, 40% found it to be sufficient. The rest had no opinion.

The question on taxing cryptos received 9,726 responses. In fact, 59% of citizens supported the launch of RBI digital currency, while 54% supported taxation of gains on digital asset sales. Among the respondents, 43% were supportive of the 1% TDS on digital asset sales transactions.

The survey also included a question on the top benefit they think Budget 2022 is likely to drive for India. In response, 14% said it will “create new infrastructure”, while 5% said it “will boost spending”. Another 13% said the Budget “will boost both spending and employment”. On an aggregate basis, 24% of the 9,960 respondents are thrilled with the Budget. While 42% believe it will drive progress in atleast one area. 29% do not see any impact.