Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government has no plans to tax agricultural income, including that of prosperous farmers, saying a rich farmer is "a very rare institution" and not the norm.


In an interview to PTI, he said the farm sector is in distress and there was no question of taxing agricultural income. NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy had late last month stated that farmers should be liable to pay tax on their incomes at par with other citizens after seasonal fluctuations are adjusted.


"I have already contradicted that. I have already said that we are not in favour of doing that," he said. Stating that the agriculture sector is under distress, he said farm holdings are very small in size.