New Delhi: After comments on inheritance tax by Sam Pitroda, chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, drew sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress hit back citing past comments of BJP leaders including Amit Malviya and Jayant Sinha endorsing the idea.
Flagging an old tweet by Malviya, convener of BJP’s IT cell, Congress incharge of communications Jairam Ramesh wrote in a post on X Wednesday: “Congress has clearly stated it has no plans to implement a wealth tax. Given multiple BJP leaders have declared their support for it, where does PM Modi stand?”
Malviya had in a tweet in November 2014 endorsed the idea of “inheritance tax”. He was also among those who criticised Pitroda earlier Wednesday by alleging that the “Congress has decided to destroy India” by bringing in this form of taxation.
Ramesh in his post also flagged former Union minister and senior BJP leader Jayant Sinha’s remarks favouring the implementation of “estate tax” in India.
I have a feeling this tweet will be deleted soon, so here’s a screenshot to go with. @INCIndia has clearly stated it has no plans to implement a wealth tax.
Given multiple BJP leaders have declared their support for it, where does PM Modi stand? #ChuppiTodoPradhanMantriji https://t.co/EN9HrLwtpZ pic.twitter.com/UDVMBbphMb
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 24, 2024
At an award function in 2013, Sinha had said, “When I talk about estate taxes in India, I’m going to say that it will actually encourage a lot more philanthropy and a number of other advantages which will enable us to effectively create a more vibrant entrepreneurial capitalism in India, which we very much require.” Among the reasons in favour of such a tax, Sinha counted the “need to level the playing field”.
He added, “So if we want to create a society that gives opportunities that are equal to everyone, we have to level the playing field and we have to have the creative destruction that entrepreneurial capitalism requires, which is why we need estate taxes, so that we take away at least 50 or 55 percent of the advantage that dynastic business people already have right now.”
“Secondly, it gets business owners to recognise that they’re not going to own their businesses into perpetuity,” added Sinha, who went on to become Minister of State for Finance in the first Modi government.
While attacking Sinha, Ramesh wrote on X Wednesday, “He (Sinha) has spent 15 long minutes vehemently arguing in favour of an inheritance tax of 55 percent, like in the US. The PM must answer: where does he stand on this issue?”
The Congress has no plan whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi abolished Estate Duty in 1985.
Please listen to BJP MP Jayant Sinha, once MoS Finance in the Modi Sarkar, and later Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance. He has spent 15 long… pic.twitter.com/ef227Cr7AK
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 24, 2024
Ramesh also pointed towards former Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s comments from 2018 saying hospitals, universities and other institutions in developed countries receive large endowments owing to factors like inheritance tax.
Earlier Wednesday, the Congress found itself in a pickle after Pitroda in an interview cited the example of inheritance tax in the US to suggest Indians too should debate the issue. Highlighting US laws which allow government to tax up to 50 percent of one’s inheritance, he said, “In America… if one has $100 million worth of wealth, when he dies, he can only transfer probably 45 percent to his children… 55 percent is grabbed by the government.”
Pitroda said he felt this was an “interesting law”, adding: “It says you in your generation made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair.”
However, the Congress was quick to distance itself from Pitroda, adding that it had no plans to introduce an inheritance tax. Ramesh called Pitroda’s remarks his “personal opinion” and instead said it was the Modi government that wanted to bring in an inheritance law.
The Congress has no plan whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax. In fact, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi abolished Estate Duty in 1985.
But it is the Modi Sarkar that has wanted to do so!
Fact One: Jayant Sinha, then Minister of State for Finance, publicly stated that he… pic.twitter.com/Qns8UATR48
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 24, 2024
Pitroda too later said his remarks were twisted to deflect attention from core issues.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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