Congress manifesto doesn't mention inheritance tax, says Chidambaram

Chennai: In the wake of BJP’s campaign that the Congress is planning to reintroduce inheritance tax, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram said the term does not occur anywhere in the party’s manifesto.

In a tweet on Sunday, Chidambaram said the “Prime Minister continues to discover and read words and sentences in the Congress manifesto that are not there”.

He asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to debate on ‘real issues’ rather than ‘fight imaginary ghosts’.

“It is disappointing to see the Hon’ble PM fight imaginary ghosts. He should debate the ‘real’ issues included in the Congress’ Manifesto,” Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram said that Congress does want to bring in tax reforms, which are clearly stated in the manifesto. Listing out Congress’ promises, he said the party wants to bring an era of transparency, equity, clarity, and impartial administration of direct taxes; maintain stable personal income tax rates for the term of five years, lessen the burden of tax on MSMEs, end the duplicitous ‘cess’ raj of the Modi govt, provide significant tax relief for shopkeepers and retail businesses and introduce GST 2.0.

Chidambaram said the term inheritance tax does not occur anywhere in the Congress manifesto. “He (Modi) has imagined a Congress Manifesto written by one of his ghost speech writers,” Chidambaram said.

The debate over inheritance tax was sparked by a statement of Sam Pitroda. BJP launched a campaign alleging that Congress was planning to introduce inheritance tax in India. Though Sam Pitroda later said his remark applied strictly to the USA and that he never spoke of India, BJP is in no mood to let the issue die.

During his recent election campaign in Madhya Pradesh, Modi alleged that the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi banned inheritance tax to save his family property. However, now the Congress was planning to reintroduce inheritance tax with the intention to redistribute wealth, Modi had charged.

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