- Wednesday, May 15, 2024
In an interview with the Times of India, the PM said such taxes are ‘dangerous problems disguised as solutions’, adding that they have never been successful and have only distributed wealth ‘so that everyone is equally poor’.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AMID a massive row over the idea of inheritance tax which is in practice in some states in the US, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said that taxing people’s inheritance cannot address inequality and has “never removed poverty”.
Speaking with India’s Times of India newspaper in an interview, Modi also assured that such a tax would not be imposed if he returns to power after the ongoing national elections in India.
Inheritance and wealth taxes have emerged as key campaign issues in the Indian elections last week with Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Indian National Congress attacking each other over the issue.
Read: Explained: what is US inheritance tax that India’s Sam Pitroda mentioned to trigger a row
The prime minister called such taxes “dangerous problems disguised as solutions”, adding that they have never been successful and have only distributed wealth “so that everyone is equally poor”.
The interview was published on Monday (29).
Read: Sam Pitroda hits back at Modi amid ‘inheritance tax’ row, says he has concerns about PM’s brain
“I do not think they are solutions by any stretch of imagination. These are actually dangerous problems disguised as solutions. Would you work day and night if the government will take away your money in the name of redistribution?… These policies sow discord and block every road to equity, they create hatred and destabilise the economic as well as social fabric of a nation,” he told the outlet.
Along with the soaring mercury, campaigning in India’s elections has heated up after the first phase of polling on April 19.
Modi in a recent rally in the state of Rajasthan accused the Congress of favouring minority Muslims and planning to snatch people’s wealth to benefit them. The opposition party hit back at Modi saying he fears losing and was using divisive language to distract voters from the real issues.
India has seen a lower turnout in the first two phases of the elections and will go to the third round of polling on May 7.
