"Jo mila, woh hazam" — Prime Minister ji, the middle class has digested far more than it was given. The PM's remark on the ₹12 lakh tax-free income has started a big debate on Twitter. Here are the numbers behind the slogan. 🔹 The old-regime basic exemption is still ₹2.5 lakh, exactly where it was in July 2014. Indexed by the government's own Cost Inflation Index (240 in 2014-15 → 384 in 2026-27), it should be ₹4 lakh. 🔹 80C is still ₹1.5 lakh after 12 years. Indexed, it should be ₹2.4 lakh. Meanwhile, PF, LIC, PPF and children's tuition fees have all become costlier. 🔹 Home loan interest u/s 24(b) is still ₹2 lakh. Indexed, it should be ₹3.2 lakh, while home prices and EMIs have multiplied. 🔹 80TTA on savings interest is still ₹10,000. 🔹 The cess went up from 3% to 4%. 🔹 ₹12 lakh is not a slab. It is a rebate. The real basic exemption in the new regime is just ₹4 lakh. Earn ₹1 above the limit and tax starts from ₹4 lakh upward. The "tax-free" label holds only as long as you stay below the line. 🔹 The new regime punishes savers. No tax benefit for PPF, life insurance, a home loan or health cover. The middle class is told to spend, not save, and to fund its own security without any support. The math: in 2014, using honest deductions, a person could earn about ₹6.65 lakh tax-free. Old-regime limits were left frozen for 12 years, so inflation silently ate away their value year after year. Then a single headline number was announced as a gift. This is not relief. It is a refund of 12 years of inflation tax, packaged as generosity, while the incentive to save was taken away. The middle class doesn't need reminders of what it "got". It needs indexed limits, every year, by law, the same way capital gains are indexed. Hazam humne nahi kiya. Hazam inflation ne kiya.