Budget 2026 Should Freeze Peak Tax Rates, Widen Base & Incentivise Investments: TCF Report

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : Recent reforms under GST 2.0 have demonstrated that simplification and tax moderation can coexist with strong revenue growth, challenging the long-held belief that higher tax rates are necessary to boost collections, a report titled 'Shaping India's New Taxation Ideology: Simplification, Moderation and Growth' said.
61% : There is an urgent need for widening direct tax base to improve tax GDP ratio, it said, adding, with only 2.5-3 crore effective taxpayers in a population of 140 crore, the Budget should prioritise technology-driven base expansion by integrating GST, income tax and high-value consumption data instead of raising rates.
60% : A Think Change Forum report urges Union Budget 2026 to freeze peak direct tax rates, widen the tax base via technology, and incentivise private investment in manufacturing and R&D. It advocates extending GST 2.0 simplification to direct taxes, completing input credit chains, avoiding MRP-based taxation, and strengthening enforcement against smuggling and evasion for sustained growth.
54% : Given stagnant investment despite rising profits, the Budget should use targeted tax incentives to channel corporate earnings into manufacturing, R&D and job-creating assets rather than financial investments, it said.
54% : The report emphasised the need for a distinct Indian taxation ideology- one that blends classical Indian wisdom with modern economic thinking, prioritising moderation, fairness, compliance and growth over short-term revenue extraction.
52% : "As India approaches the Union Budget, the choices made will determine whether taxation becomes a catalyst for long-term economic expansion or a constraint on ambition," the report released by a think tank Think Change Forum (TCF) on Wednesday said.
50% : New Delhi: The Union Budget 2026 needs to focus on widening the direct tax base, incentivising private sector investment and freezing peak direct tax rates to further accelerate growth and generate employment opportunities, a report said.
50% : The report outlines a six-point advisory for policymakers, urging them to extend the principles of GST reform to direct taxes, enforcement and investment policy At the core of the advisory is a push for policy certainty and compliance-led growth-anchored in freezing peak tax rates, widening the direct tax base through technology instead of rate hikes, steering clear of MRP-based taxation after the compensation cess sunsets, completing the GST input credit chain, incentivising productive reinvestment of profits, and stepping up action against the parallel economy, including smuggling and illicit trade.
50% : The Union Budget should commit to freezing peak direct tax rates in line with the Arthashastra's principle of moderation to provide long-term certainty and shift revenue mobilisation towards base expansion rather than rate increases.
50% : The Budget should also outline a phased roadmap to bring petroleum, electricity and other excluded inputs under GST to restore tax neutrality and reduce cascading costs for industry, it said.
41% : The upcoming Budget must strengthen enforcement against smuggling, illicit trade and tax evasion so that non-compliance becomes costlier than compliance and honest taxpayers are no longer penalised, it added.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.