Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tejasvi Surya has called on union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider including Bengaluru in the list of ‘metro cities’ and so to benefit salaried employees who can claim full house rent exemption for income tax purposes.
Surya pointed out Bengaluru – the Karnataka state capital and widely viewed as the ‘IT capital’ of the country – has a high population of salaried employees when compared to other cities.
“Salaried middle-class people of this country have a major concern. Under the current income tax rules, only four cities fall under metro cities and those are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. My city – Bengaluru – has high number of salaried employees and I request you bring the city under metro cities,” he said during a speech in Parliament on Thursday.
The BJP MP – known for controversial statements – said such a move would help those employees claim HRA (house rent allowance) deductions of up to 50 per cent.
“Residents of big cities like Bengaluru… can claim HRA deduction upto 40 per cent only under existing rules. Including Bengaluru and new growing cities as metros will greatly benefit crores of middle-class taxpayers across the country,” he said.
