Chidambaram, while announcing the federal budget for the financial year starting April 1, proposed a so-called surcharge that would push the effective income-tax rate for a select group of taxpayers to about 34% from the current 30.9%, according to tax experts.
All sorts of ideas were bandied about, including a Democratic attempt to impose an incometaxsurcharge on millionaires and the Republican counter to freeze pay for federal employees.