High Income Group: ‘The Budget is a study in contrasts’

The Union Budget 2026-27 contrasts global aspirations with local tax relief, leaving high-income families feeling overlooked amid rising costs.

Name: Ranjit K. Jain

Profession: Distributors and channel partners

Number of family members: 4

Annual Income: ₹30 lakh

For a family in the ₹30-lakh income bracket, the Union Budget is a study in contrasts. While it delivers a major victory for our global aspirations, it remains stubbornly silent on the domestic tax relief we had anticipated to combat the rising cost of urban living.

As a family at the ₹30-lakh threshold, we are now firmly in the highest tax slab of 30% under the new tax regime. Our primary hope was for a ‘bracket stretch’ — moving the trigger to ₹35 lakh. Such a move would have instantly boosted the take-home pay of senior professionals, providing the liquidity needed for long-term investments like home down payments or retirement corpuses, which have been eroded by persistent inflation.