India, Feb. 13 -- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said high personal income tax collection does not necessarily mean that the middle class is being suppressed or crushed in the country, as there is no evidence of any suppression of the middle class in the country, but there is evidence of middle-class expansion.

"There is no evidence of middle-class suppression. Actually, there is enough and more evidence of historic middle-class expansion and formalisation driven by the economic reforms that have been undertaken in the last ten years. High personal income tax collection is not necessarily the middle class being crushed," Sitharaman said while replying to a debate on the Union Budget 2026-27.

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