World Economic Forum 2023 Suggests For Taxing Rich
According to Oxfam International's "Survival of the Richest" report, released on Monday to coincide with the start of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the number of Indian billionaires is set to rise to 166 by 2022 from 102 in 2020. There were only 9 in 2000. The richest 1 per cent in India now owns more than 40 per cent of the country's total wealth and just 5 per cent of Indians own more than 60 per cent of the nation's wealth. In the 1980s, India's top 1 per cent used to have 6 per cent of the country's total income. According to the report, about 64 per cent of the total Rs 14.83 lakh crore in GST in 2021-22 came from the bottom 50 per cent of the population, with only 3 per cent coming from the top 10. On gender inequality, the report states that women workers get only 63 paise for every Rs 1 earned by a male worker.
Even while the globe grapples with challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, growing living costs, and the Ukraine-Russia war, the world's wealthiest have grown richer and corporate earnings have increased. In a decade, millionaires' wealth surged nearly tenfold. Approximately 20 per cent of Indian billionaires are from the private healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, which saw a significant increase after the Covid-19 outbreak. Gautam Adani, head of Adani Group, witnessed his fortune grow eightfold during the pandemic.
According to the survey, India ranks 135th out of 163 countries in terms of equal access to quality education. India was placed 145th out of 163 countries in terms of equal access to quality healthcare. In terms of access to vital health care, the country ranks 123rd. The underprivileged in India cannot afford even the most basic needs for survival. The number of hungry Indians is expected to rise from 190 million in 2018 to 350 million by 2022. However, this inequality did not emerge abruptly; rather, it grew fast during the much-touted liberalisation of 1991 as a result of policies that encouraged capital over labour and skilled labour over unskilled labour.
Governments talked about reducing poverty but were unable to do it. We can comprehend the predicament when eighty crore Indians require free food grains. More than 60 per cent of the country's population lives in rural areas, and while there are six and a half lakh villages and two and a half lakh panchayats, only a few people benefit from the country's wealth. The Ganges of development are also flowing in the same direction, and cities are becoming smarter, but villages and panchayats continue to face basic challenges. Increasing the number of millionaires in the country will not solve the problem. Although India has risen to fifth place in the world economy, its share of development is still insufficient for many.
Without a doubt, India has a very unequal economy, but when inequality exceeds certain boundaries, conflict-tension rises in society and has a detrimental influence on overall growth. The crime rate is rising. To assure prosperity across all economic levels, India must break free from the shackles of income inequality. Argentina approved legislation last year to levy a special tax on the wealthy. With new corporation taxes, neighbouring nations such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia have cut the top 10 per cent of their population's proportion of total income.
The Union Finance Minister is going to present the budget on February 1, so concrete steps should be taken in the direction of economic justice by imposing additional tax on the rich and corporate. Citing a nationwide survey by Fight Inequality Alliance India (FIA India) in 2021, Oxfam said it found that more than 80 per cent people in India support taxing the rich and corporations.
The government will have to spend significantly more money on assistance programmes. Much more money will be needed for health and education. A 2.5 per cent tax on the top 100 Indian billionaires, or a 5 percent tax on the top ten Indian billionaires, could fund free schooling for all children. As agreed in the National Health Policy and the National Education Policy, the government should boost budgetary allocations for the health sector to 2.5 per cent of GDP and education to 6 per cent of GDP by 2025. Even after 75 years of freedom, the gap between rich and poor in our country is widening. Because the poor pay disproportionately higher taxes than the rich, it is time to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporate executives. In addition, the ordinary man must now take the initiative to eradicate economic disparity.
The author, Brajesh Kumar Tiwari is an Associate Professor at Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management & Entrepreneurship, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.
