Old social media posts of BJP leaders supporting inheritance tax emerges
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BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya
New Delhi: Social media posts by the BJP leaders advocating inheritance tax emerged hours after Congress leader Sam Pitroda kicked up a row over it.
The BJP earlier called out Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda after he recommended the tax model for the country, The News Minute reported.
However, the Indian National Congress distanced itself from the subject as it snowballed into a controversy.
Meanwhile, social media posts by BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya, former Finance Minister and BJP MP Jayant Sinha and industrialist TV Mohandas Pai supporting the tax system were dug up.
The controversy has initiated conversations around inheritance tax which is levied on transfer of assets from a deceased individual to their beneficiaries.
Many countries worldwide adopted the system aiming at redistribution of wealth and fostering economic parity.
India also had an inheritance tax called Estate Duty until it was removed by the then Finance Minister VP Singh under the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985.
In 2013 former Finance Minister and BJP MP Jayant Sinha said at the Forbes Philanthropy Awards that Estate taxes in India could encourage a lot more philanthropy and a number of other advantages.
‘very much required as it will encourage a lot more philanthropy and a number of other advantages which will enable to effectively create a more vibrant entrepreneurial capitalism in India,’ Sinha was quoted as saying.
Alongside BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya’s deleted social media posts endorsing it have now begun circulating.
In 2014, Amit Malviya in a post said: "I am all for Jayant Sinha's idea to tax inheritance wealth."
Industrialist TV Mohandas Pai in an interview with Mint in 2015 supported the tax system saying: “I am starting to believe that the only way to get people to give is to impose an inheritance tax. That will only force them to give. America has an inheritance tax, and that is forcing people to give when they are alive.”
Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress suggested wealth redistribution policies for India, citing the US inheritance tax model.
At the time of inheritance a significant portion of an individual's wealth is taxed in the US.
"In America, there is an inheritance tax...It says you in your generation made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public," Sam Pitroda reportedly said.
