Senior citizens need more tax rebates: Helpage India

Helpage India has urged Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to increase the level of income tax rebate under Section 88-B to Rs 25,000 from the present Rs 15,000.

It will be ideal if the amount can be linked with the cost of living index and accordingly revised every year or an automatic revision mechanism may be put in place, it said in a pre-Budget memorandum.

The present Section 80-D deals with medical expenditure incurred by the physically handicapped. This may also be extended to senior citizens in view of their increased physical dependency and decreased income, said the apex body of elderly citizens.

Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi on Thursday, Helpage India's president D R Kohli was also critical of reduction in savings interest rates and said the government's move has seriously affected the income of a large number of senior citizens.

Kohli said the amount spent on an elderly person towards boarding and lodging in an old age home should be considered as expenditure and should qualify for deduction from the taxable income.

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