CHENNAI: Former Union finance minister P
Chidambaram
accused PM Narendra Modi on Sunday of fighting “imaginary ghosts”, saying the term “inheritance tax” doesn’t feature once in Congress’s manifesto.
“The Hon’ble Prime Minister continues to discover and read in Congress’ manifesto words and sentences that are not there! He (Modi) should debate the ‘real’ issues included in Congress’s manifesto,” Chidambaram wrote on X.
The Congress veteran also said his party wanted to bring
tax reforms
, as stated in the manifesto.
Reading out the to-do list, he said Congress intended to bring an era of transparency, equity, clarity, and impartial tax administration of direct taxes, maintain stable personal income tax rates for 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”.
Sam Pitroda, advisor to former PM Manmohan Singh, recently mentioned the prevalence of
inheritance tax
in America, triggering a backlash from BJP, including
PM Modi
.
In Madhya Pradesh, Modi had alleged that former PM Rajiv Gandhi banned inheritance tax to save his family properties, but Congress was planning to reintroduce it as part of a strategy to take away citizens’ assets in the name of wealth distribution.
