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Headbanging is the buzz created by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who has proposed that married couples in India could jointly file their Income Tax Return (ITR). In a recent speech, Chadha asserted that the present one-client system was unfair to a large number of the dual-income families and suggested that the Indian system could consider harmonizing the tax system with the practices of other countries, such as the USA, where joint filings brought numerous advantages in terms of increased exemption as well as lower actual tax rates and compliances.

Chadha followed his typical approach of joking and remarked, in his typical jovial old fashion, that with joint ITR filing, we are going to have more people marrying! The casual comment made the people laugh and soon spread on social media, netizens joking about a possible marriage boom due to tax compensation.

Experts in the financial field report that joint filing would have a positive effect on the tax liability of couples in which one of the partners has a substantially lower income, whereas some experts have raised concerns that it might create complications during a divorce or a separation process. The proposal has brought back the debate on tax reforms before the next Union Budget, and it is variously being termed as a progressive move towards the current families in India.