“If you look at the balance sheets of these NGOs, whether it’s Thomas Piketty, Oxfam, or any of the thousands of such NGOs, you’ll see where their money comes from. They are funded by organisations like the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Soros’ Open Society.” – Sanjeev Sanyal
Economist Sanjeev Sanyal, who has voiced his opposition to any kind of wealth or inheritance tax, recently hit out at Oxfam and economist Thomas Piketty for “exaggerating” the income inequality issue in India. Oxfam, Thomas Piketty, and some other global NGOs have been claiming higher income inequality in India and want a wealth tax on billionaires to tackle this issue.
Sanyal, however, believes that these global NGOs have different agendas and they want to bring down Indian billionaires and industrialists. “Many NGOs tend to exaggerate these issues. They have a different agenda. They want us to implement wealth tax, inheritance tax, and bring down our billionaires and industrialists,” he said in a podcast TRP.
The economist, a member in the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said that this targeting of industrialists has been happening for some time. “When I was in school, we used to always hear about Tata and Birla. Today, the new names are Adani and Ambani,” he said, adding that India needs these industrialists because they are the ones who will invest.
“We need thousands and millions of jobs. It’s not going to be Piketty or Oxfam or other NGOs that will create these jobs. Only the industrialists will do that. So, targeting these industrialists is wrong.”
Sanyal blasted these NGOs, saying they praise American billionaires but go after Indian billionaires. All these big NGOs, he said, take funds from people like George Soros and Bill Gates. “If you look at the balance sheets of these NGOs, whether it’s Thomas Piketty, Oxfam, or any of the thousands of such NGOs, you’ll see where their money comes from. They are funded by organisations like the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Soros’ Open Society.”
“Who are these people? Bill Gates, Soros, Ford, Rockefeller—they are all American billionaires. So, these entities that preach to us are funded by American billionaires. In their own countries, they praise these billionaires. These organisations are completely funded by American billionaires,” the economist and historian said.
Oxfam, which tracks poverty, claims that the top 10 per cent of the Indian population holds 77 per cent of the total national wealth. As per its report available on its ite, 73 per cent of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1 per cent, while 67 crore Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1 per cent increase in their wealth.
Oxfam report also pointed out that there were 119 billionaires in India and their number had increased from only 9 in 2000 to 101 in 2017. “Between 2018 and 2022, India is estimated to produce 70 new millionaires every day.”
Sanyal said India’s population is about 16 or 17 per cent of the world, so it should aim to have 16 or 17 per cent of the world’s billionaires as Indians. He, however, said that the government should also support the poor. “I have always advocated for this. But this doesn’t mean we should suppress our innovators and investors who will invest in large projects.”
The economist said that foreigners want India to keep its startups under control because it benefits them. “Remember, these foreign NGOs have no interest in the welfare of our country. They just want to keep us under control. If they hate billionaires so much, why do they take money from Soros, Ford, etc.?” he asked.
“Check their balance sheets. All these organizations take money from white billionaires. What problem do they have with Indian billionaires? We need our billionaires. At the same time, we need to support the poor. I have no doubt about this. I have always listed what needs to be done, but implementing inheritance tax and wealth tax is not the solution.”
Sanyal said that during Indira Gandhi’s time, these taxes were imposed and they didn’t yield any benefits. “Most wealthy people either put their money in a trust or take it abroad. These taxes only affect the middle class. The rich either move their money abroad or put it in trusts, making these taxes ineffective.”
In March this year, a paper on India’s income inequality, co-authored by French economist Thomas Piketty, claimed that India’s top 1 per cent income share was among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil, and US. According to the paper, India was now more unequal than what it was under the British Raj.
The paper suggested that besides serving as a tool to fight inequality, a “super tax” of 2 per cent on the net wealth of the 167 wealthiest families in 2022-23 would yield 0.5 per cent of national income in revenues and create valuable fiscal space to facilitate such investments.
In the run-up to general elections, Sam Pitroda, chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, pitched for the inheritance tax to bring down inequality. While the Congress distanced from his remarks, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s comments that the grand old party, if elected to power, would conduct a financial survey spooked the people.
Even then, Sanyal had objected to wealth tax, saying this was a tool used by the rich (who have perfected tax protection) to keep out middle-class aspirants who may climb in through multigenerational wealth accumulation. – Business Today, 18 July 2024
› Saurabh Sharma covers politics and economy for Business Today Digital.
