Income from agriculture to remain tax free, says Arun Jaitley

New Delhi : The government has no plans to impose any tax on agricultural income, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday putting to rest recent speculation on a politically sensitive issue.

"I categorically state that the Central government has no plan to impose any tax on agriculture income," Jaitley said in a tweet, clarifying that the Centre has no constitutional authority to tax agricultural income.

Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy had said on Tuesday that taxes should be imposed on agricultural income above a certain threshold in order to expand the tax base.

"On expanding the base on the personal income tax side, other than elimination of exemptions, is to also tax rural sector, including agriculture income above certain threshold," Debroy said.

The NITI Aayog in a statement on Wednesday said that Debroy's suggestion is neither the view of the Aayog "nor is such a recommendation made anywhere in the Draft Action Agenda document as circulated to the Governing Council at the meeting on 23rd April 2017." 

"NITI Aayog notes that the views on taxing farm income expressed by Member Bibek Debroy were personal and not those of the Aayog," it added.