'Congress mantra is to loot people even after death': PM Modi slams inheritance tax idea (WATCH)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Congress party for proposing an inheritance tax in India, calling it dangerous for the nation. He expressed concerns over the party's policies, particularly the imposition of taxes on inherited wealth, which he argued would deprive children of their rightful inheritance.
FollowPrime Minister Narendra Modi has lashed out at the Congress party over Indian Overseas Congress chairperson Sam Pitroda's advocacy of inheritance tax in India. Prime Minister Modi has voiced concerns over the Congress Party's proposed policies, labelling them as perilous for the nation.Â
"The dangerous intentions of the Congress Party are coming to the fore one after the other. The prince's advisor to the royal family had said some time ago that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class. Now these people have gone one step further. Now Congress says that it will impose Inheritance Tax, it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents," PM Modi said.
Criticizing the Congress party's plan to implement an Inheritance Tax, PM Modi argued that this move would deprive children of their rightful inheritance, accusing the Congress government of seizing wealth earned through hard work.
"Your children will not get the wealth that you accumulate through your hard work, rather the claws of the Congress government will snatch it away from you. That means Congress's mantra is - Congress's loot during life and even after life. As long as you live, Congress will hit you with higher taxes. And when you are no longer alive, she will burden you with Inheritance Tax. Those people who considered the entire Congress Party as ancestral property and gave it to their children, do not want an ordinary Indian to give his property to his children," he added.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Sam Pitroda reportedly underscored the importance of implementing policies for wealth redistribution, drawing comparisons with the inheritance tax system in America. Pitroda highlighted the inheritance tax in the US, where a portion of an individual's wealth is transferred to the government upon death. He explained, "In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million USD worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 percent to his children, 55 percent is grabbed by the government. That's an interesting law. 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."
He lamented the absence of such a tax system in India, where wealth is inherited entirely by descendants, emphasizing the necessity for public discourse on wealth redistribution policies. Pitroda clarified that wealth distribution is solely a "policy issue" and expressed concern over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on the Congress manifesto.
While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders criticized Pitroda for advocating wealth redistribution, the Congress distanced itself from his comments, stating that his views do not always align with the party's position. Amidst growing social media outrage, Pitroda issued a clarification, asserting that his statements on inheritance tax were distorted to divert attention from core issues.
Also Read: What is Inheritance Tax? Why was it abolished in India in 1985?
