Continuing his attack on Congress over its poll promises and manifesto, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election rally in Chhattisgarh's Surguja on Wednesday said the party says it will impose an "inheritance tax" if voted to power. PM Modi was reacting to suggestions by Congress's overseas wing in charge Sam Pitroda's of a "US-like inheritance tax", which came at the right time for the Prime Minister who was receiving backlash for his claim that the Congress has promised to "redistribute country's wealth" in its manifesto for Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Sam Pitroda, the Indian Overseas Congress chief, defended Congress's so-called 'poll promise' in an interview with news agency ANI, saying the policy of redistribution of wealth was in the interest of the people and not in the interest of the super-rich only. Election News LIVE Updates
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Reacting to the same, PM Modi on Wednesday said Congress's mantra is 'Congress's Loot' - "Zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi".
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"The royal family's prince's advisor and the royal family's prince's father's advisor had said that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class. Now these people have gone one step further than this, Congress says that it will impose an Inheritance Tax, and it will also impose tax on the Inheritance received from parents," PM Modi said.
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"The property you have accumulated through your hard work will not be given to your children," PM Modi claimed.
"The claws of Congress will snatch that too from you...As long as you are alive, Congress will impose higher taxes and when you are no longer alive, it will burden you with Inheritance Tax. Those people who considered the entire Congress party as their ancestral property and handed it over to their children, now do not want Indians to pass on their property to their children," PM Modi said.
What Did Sam Pitroda Say
Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, said in an interview with news agency ANI, "In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent 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. In India, you don't have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing...So these are the kind of issues people will have to debate and discuss," Sam Pitroda said.
"I don't know what the conclusion would be at the end of the day but when we talk about redistributing wealth, we are talking about new policies and new programs that are in the interest of the people and not in the interest of super-rich only," he said.
