Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against higher income tax rate to raise revenue

New Delhi: Ahead of his first full fledged budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that the NDA government was against raising revenue by imposing higher taxes, instead it would want to leave more money in the hands of consumer to fuel demand and growth.

The minister also pledged to make the budgetary process more transparent so as to present the real picture of public finances before the people.

"High taxation is not the only route to achieve the target of larger revenue ... we are not going to take this route," Jaitley said while speaking at a function.

He was replying to a question whether it was possible to increase the income tax payer base from from 3.5 crore to 15 crore.

"We believe that the consumer should have money in hand and by spending that money, production will increase and the country will be benefited," the minister said.

The government raised income tax exemption limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh in the last budget, he said.

Jaitley will present his first full-fledged budget in the Lok Sabha next month.

He further said that competitive, non-adversarial and stable tax regime was necessary to attract foreign investors who have various options available to them.

The minister said that public spending would be necessary in the initial phase to revive the economy, which had suffered during the UPA regime.

Referring to the spate of functions organised by different states to attract investment, Jaitley said that Prime Minister Modi has successfully brought development agenda on track.

He said the investors will go to states which would offer them better business environment.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal had recently organised various business summits to woo investors.