Inheritance tax and discussion on the same has swept across the channels of discussion across the political spectrum. Sam Pitroda's comments on Inheritance Tax and how a future government would establish a system has created havoc across the board.
Nikhil Kamath's Article
Although it has become another arena of political slugfest, it is the comment from Zerodha boss Nikhil Kamath, that is garnering significant traction.
An old video of Kamath espousing the tax regime went viral, with many publications covering the matter. Now, an article written by Kamath has surfaced. This article was written in 2022 for Forbes. The article expressed its intention and support for inheritance tax with its very title, A case for inheritance tax, by Nikhil Kamath.
In the article, Kamath refers to the system and its ability to instate a certain level of parity. He comments or makes the case by saying, "It levels the playing field for the uber rich inheritors and the not-so-fortunate. It also rests on the principles of utilitarian economics, which posits that an optimal social state can be achieved through a redistribution of initial endowments".
'Right To Equality'
He further takes about this regime being rudimentary for the times we are in. He said, "This level of selective prosperity can be attributed to defective tax policies pursued over several decades, where wealth taxation doesn’t contribute a fair share to the exchequer. There are a few very persuasive reasons why inheritance taxes should make a comeback in India."
Further, he also invokes the constitutional element of the discourse by saying," this approach to public finance also aligns with the egalitarian ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India. The Right to Equality is one of the chief guarantees of the Constitution, and equitable wealth taxation is an important step in that direction."
Kamath, like Pitroda invokes the US system in the discourse, and underscored the principle tenets of redistribution of wealth and economic equilibrium as elements that shore up, in the existence of such a system.
