NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday hit out at PM Narendra Modi over his barbs on Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s remarks on inheritance tax and asserted that it has no plans to introduce such a tax.
The party also cited former Union minister Jayant Sinha’s endorsement of inheritance tax to allege that it was the Modi government that wanted to do so.
Citing a statement by Pitroda, president of the Indian Overseas Congress, Modi said the Congress intends to snatch the assets and rights of Indians. Pitroda has talked about the inheritance tax law in the United States while answering a query on the “redistribution of wealth” issue.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the Congress has no plan to introduce an inheritance tax. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had abolished Estate Duty in 1985, he said, adding that it is the Modi government that has wanted to do so. He said, “Fact One: Jayant Sinha, then Minister of State for Finance, stated that he wanted to introduce Inheritance Tax in 2014.
Fact Two: In 2017, reports emerged that the Modi Sarkar was going to re-introduce inheritance tax. Fact Three: In 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley praised Inheritance Taxes for spurring large endowments to hospitals, and universities in the West. Fact Four: News reports emerged that Modi Sarkar would introduce an Inheritance Tax in Union Budget 2019,” Ramesh said. “Over to you PM Modi – what is your party’s stance on this issue?” he said and shared media reports on Jayant Sinha and Jaitley’s remarks “in favour” of an inheritance tax.
Pitroda wrote on X, “Who said 55% will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why is BJP and the media in panic? I mentioned US inheritance tax only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts?”