No wealth tax on farm land: Chidambaram

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday ruled out levying wealth tax on agriculture land and roll back of the duty hike on SUVs but relaxed residency norms for investors from countries like Mauritius for the purpose of tax benefit.

In order to attract investment for long-term infrastructure bonds, he said the interest payments on investments in government bonds and corporate debts will attract 5 per cent tax as against 20 per cent.

In a short speech while moving the Finance Bill for passage in the Lok Sabha, Chidambaram ruled out withdrawal of the proposal to introduce Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) saying that with the new levy commodities derivative trading would no longer be considered as a speculative transaction.

With the government and the opposition having reached a limited understanding, the House passed the Finance Bill, demands for grants of all the ministries after applying the guillotine and the Railway Budget without any discussion.

With apprehensions raised by farmers, especially those in Punjab and Haryana, and capitalised by Congress' opponents, the Finance Minister took the first opportunity to clarify that there was no intention of levying Wealth Tax on agriculture land.