Inheritance tax could nullify India's decade of progress, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman criticizes Congress for advocating inheritance tax, stating it could hinder India's progress.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, April 26, 2024, cast her vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru’s BEs college .

Speaking after casting her vote the Finance Minister said that the people wanted PM Modi to continue in office. “I want more and more people to come out and vote...I think it is clear that people want a stable government, they want good policies, progress and development and that is why they are coming out. They want to see PM Modi continue his term.”

Ms. Sitharaman also criticised the Congress for advocating an inheritance tax like law, stating that it could nullify India's progress over the last decade."I remember earlier in 1968 there was a compulsory deposit scheme where people's deposits were all 18 per cent, 20 per cent. Something was taken away. There was no justification given at that time... If such wealth creators are going to be punished purely because they have some money kept behind, India's progress in the last ten years would just go for a zero. And we'll probably be going back to that era when Congress imposed a 90 per cent tax. You'll probably not believe that the current generation, wouldn't even remember or know anything about it. There was India where under the Congress rule we paid 90% of all that was earned by us as tax. That's the socialist model which the Congress party is comfortable with..."

Ms. Sitharaman also said that the inheritance tax directly impacts the middle class and aspirational class. "It (the inheritance tax) directly hits the middle class. It directly hits the aspirational class. They work hard, sweat and toil of theirs are saved in small savings here and there, or they buy a house, a dream house, and keep some fixed deposits. All this is going to be exposed to the so-called property tax," she told ANI.

The Union Finance Minister also accused the Congress party of targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they have no positive agendas to speak about. "Because they have no issue on their own in order to say 'this is what we will do for the people of India, take India forward, bring opportunities for the youth, take India in a global leadership role', they have none of these positive agendas to speak about. So they are constantly hitting at the Prime Minister, they are doing personal attacks, and even worse, they are bringing in things that they cannot implement" she said.

A controversy erupted after the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, while emphasising the need for policy towards wealth redistribution, spoke about the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in America and said that these are issues that will need to be discussed. However, the Congress party has distanced itself from the remarks and said that inheritance tax laws do not reflect the position of the party.