National InstitutionforTransforming India (NITI)Aayog is in favour of keeping the threshold for the income tax(I-T) exemption intactatRs. 2.5 lakh.Instead,they want to extend the tax(10percent)on theRs.5lakh slab toRs.7 lakh.Officials said that the Aayog favours expansion of the tax base to enable more people too paytaxes,ratherthan expandingtheexemptionlimits. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had raised the threshold for income tax exemption to Rs.2.5lakh from Rs.2lakh in his very first Budget for2014-15. At present, there are three slabs — 10 per cent for annual income between ~2.5 lakh and ~5 lakh, 20 per cent on annual income from ~5 lakh to ~10 lakh, and 30 per cent on income above ~10 lakh. The Aayog also advocated job creation being the central theme of the Budget. In its appraisal of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (201213 and 2016-17) — the last such exercise before Plans winds up — the Aayog also wanted the government to curb discretionary powers of the tax officials and a