Inheritance tax could nullify the progress India made in last 10 years: Nirmala Sitharaman

Inheritance tax could nullify the progress India made in last 10 years: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the inheritance tax, if imposed, will nullify the progress India has made in the last 10 years.

Speaking to news agency ANI after casting her vote in Bengaluru, the finance minister criticised the Congress party for allegedly advocating the inheritance tax.

“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…,” she said.

Sitharaman said that the inheritance tax, if imposed in the country, will directly impact 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.

Her remarks came after Indian Overseas Congress president Sam Pitroda’s allegedly called for a debate on the inheritance tax.

The Congress party, however, distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, terming them his personals views. After the controversy over his remarks, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh clarified that his views don’t reflect the party’s position on the issue.