Soon-to-be-married Uddipan Nath is 30 years old. He earns Rs 3,35,000 a year. Uddipan pays Rs 1,370 every month towards life insurance premium and Rs 780 as provident fund contribution. His total tax saving investment is Rs 41,160. He will still have to pay a tax of Rs 10,500 this year.

Budget reaction: Tax burden will not increase. Allowing bank fixed deposits over 5-year maturity under section 80C will make small difference because, one can invest in ELSS instead of bank deposits.

Twenty-eight year old Sriparna Ray is a working woman with an annual salary of Rs 1.8 lakh. She pays a half-yearly premium of Rs 3,500 for a life insurance policy and Rs 500 every month in a PPF account. Her income tax liability is nil for 2005-06. She is planning to borrow money from a bank to buy a car.

Budget reaction: I expected the finance minister to raise the minimum taxable income slab for women. However, there is no change in tax liability either. Small car prices are expected to come down ? that's a good news.

Sandeep Daw (33) and Ishita Daw (30) are a double-income-no-kids couple. Together they earn Rs 5,00,000 a year. Sandeep pays an annual premium of Rs 12,000 for life insurance and Rs 10,000 for a unit-linked pension plan. They have jointly taken a home loan and pay an EMI of Rs 6,500. While Ishita pays no tax, Sandeep will have to fork out Rs 28,000 as income tax.

Budget reaction: I'm happy the finance minister hasn't tinkered with tax sops on housing loan. In fact, now I hope to buy a car, as the cut in excise duty on small cars will reduce the price of the basic model by at least Rs 16,000.

Susanto Banerjee is 43 years old, with a wife and a daughter. He runs a business, while his wife is a homemaker. Susanto earns Rs 2.5 lakh a year. He pays Rs 15,000 as premium for a life insurance policy, Rs 5,000 towards PPF contribution and Rs 3,000 for medical insurance premium. He has taken a 20-year home loan and pays an EMI of Rs 5,500. His tax liability for this year will be Rs 7,344. He could have claimed a tax benefit of another Rs 3,600 as payment for his daughter?s tuition fees.

Budget reaction: In 2006-07, the tax burden will be as much as it is this year. Also, my home loan will give the same tax benefit as at present.

Thirty-six year old Sanjay Murarka is a chartered accountant with a wife and a kid. His wife is a homemaker. Sanjay?s annual income is Rs 5,00,000 and he has exhausted the Rs 1 lakh limit for tax deduction under section 80C. He pays Rs 70,000 in PPF every year.

He also invests in equity-linked savings schemes. Still, he will have to pay Rs 71,400 as income tax for 2005-06.

Budget reaction: The bad news is that we will now have to pay a higher service tax for a host of services such as mobile phone, ATMs, which we use often.

Prodyot Bhusan Mitra is 80 years old and is the head of the joint family that includes his younger sister, his two younger brothers and the family of the youngest brother. The annual income of this Hindu undivided family is Rs 5,00,000. Their tax saving investments comprise post office monthly savings scheme, govt bonds, PPF and NSC.

Budget reaction: Tax-free bank fixed deposit is a good news for elders, as they prefer safe investments to risky mutual funds.

Eighty-year-old Damodar Mahanta has retired as registrar of Kamrup District Collector's

Office in Assam in 1982. He gets a pension of Rs 4,000 per month and has some interest income on past savings. He doesn't pay any income tax. However, he is worried that his savings in post office monthly income scheme will not fetch the bonus any more.

Budget reaction: The minister has not provided anything for senior citizens. He should have made post office monthly income schemes tax free as the government has withdrawn the 10 per cent bonus payable at maturity.

Debasish Nandi, zonal executive (customer care), Reliance Infocomm, is 45 years old. His wife, Fiona Nandi is a teacher. They have a daughter. Together they earn Rs 4.5 lakh per annum. While an annual life insurance premium of Rs 12,000 takes care of Fiona's income tax liability, Debasish has exhausted the Rs 1 lakh investment limit and will yet have to pay Rs 15,000 as tax.

Budget reaction: A two per cent increase in service tax is a big blow for middle class people like us. Now we'll have to pay a 12 per cent service tax on services of almost daily use!