How much tax are you paying?

Income group: Rs 24 lakh

Income group: Rs 48 lakh




Income group: Rs 96 lakh




Tax reforms have not done too much for the uber-rich. They paid an effective tax of 30% in 2001-2 and are paying 29.08% now.

High-income earners have also got marginal relief. Their effective tax rate has dropped by 225 basis points in 12 years.

The calculation doesn’t take into account tax deductions and exemptions. If included, the effective tax rates will be lower.
How we did it

It is not possible to compare the current income levels with those prevailing in 2001-2. Today, an entry-level worker gets nearly Rs 30,000 a month. In 2001-2, a middle-level manager was making that much. To make the incomes comparable, we adjusted them to the inflation index. For this, we used the cost inflation number announced by the government every year. Once the incomes were adjusted, we calculated the tax payable on the income according to the tax slabs and rates prevailing in a particular year.