The Income Tax Bill 2025, presented to Lok Sabha floor on February 13, 2025, is a tale of missed opportunities. It was supposed to bring into shape unwieldy 1961 Act, invigorate investors, be fair to taxpayers, reduce litigation and increase self-compliance. Instead, it’s done some housekeeping - regrouped provisions scattered over different chapters and tabulation of rates etc., for ease of comprehension, but introduced some provisions of overarching surveillance. Set to roll out by April 1, 2026—this bill in addition is likely to have the usual issues related to implementation.

The bill has 536 sections instead of 819, words slashed by lakhs, and tables (57, to be precise)—that's all that has been “simplified”. Your rent’s 2% TDS above Rs 50,000 a month can now be referred from a table instead of wading thru the text. Rules related to salary (like gratuity deductions) and no. Profits are in tidy chapters.

But here’s the catch: it doesn’t go far enough. Your tax bill stays the same—no lower rates or bigger exemptions to ease the pinch of rising prices. If you’re an investor, the bill doesn’t touch tricky areas like capital gains taxes, which recently jumped from 10% to 12.5% for long-term gains on stocks (thanks to the Finance Act 2024). That’s real money out of your pocket—Rs 25,000 extra on a Rs 10 lakh profit—while this bill stays silent on relief. There are no simpler ways to handle international deals or transfer pricing disputes for businesses. Critics, including tax experts and newspapers like The New Indian Express, say this could’ve been a chance to make India a magnet for investment or lighten our load—but it’s more of a reshuffle than a rethink.

For the average person, it’s like getting a tidier desk but no relief in taxes otherwise. The promise of fewer court fights with tax officials is there, thanks to clearer wording, but some experts worry the leftover complexity—like reusing old definitions of “income”—might keep the lawyers busy anyway. It’s a half-step forward when we needed a leap.

The bill gives tax officials power to peek into your “virtual digital spaces”—think emails, WhatsApp chats, social media, or even your cloud-stored photos—anytime they suspect you’re dodging taxes. Clause 247 says they can bypass passwords and grab whatever they want, no judge’s permission needed. The absence of judicial scrutiny is an overreach ad leads to arbitrary and intrusive investigations without clear evidence of wrongdoing. The Income Tax bill provides a new weapon to Modi government in its onslaught against dissenting voices.

This is “surveillance state” move, that could target critics or settle political scores—shades of past scandals like Pegasus spyware. Imagine a tax officer scrolling through your chats because you forgot to report a small crypto trade—or just because they can. The Supreme Court said privacy is a right in 2017, but this bill doesn’t seem to care much about guardrails. No clear rules stop them from keeping your data or using it beyond taxes. For the middle class, who live so much of life online, it’s a quiet worry.