India (Commonwealth Union)_ A recent survey revealed that the wealthiest one percent of the Indian population currently owns more than forty percent of the nation’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population collectively owns only three percent. The India supplement of the annual inequality report was released on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland. According to rights group Oxfam International, imposing a 5% tax on India’s ten richest would generate enough funds to put all children back to school.
The report added, “A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 2017-2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year”. The paper titled ‘Survival of the Richest’ added that if Indian billionaires were taxed once at 2% on their total fortune, it would generate funds for the nutrition of malnourished people in the nation for the next three years at a cost of Rs 40,423 crore.
According to the report, “A one-time tax of 5 percent on the 10 richest billionaires in the country (Rs 1.37 lakh crore) is more than 1.5 times the funds estimated by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry (Rs 86,200 crore) and the Ministry of Ayush (Rs 3,050 crore) for the year 2022-23”. Regarding gender disparity, the research said that female employees only received 63 paise for every rupee earned by a male worker. For Scheduled Castes and rural laborers, the disparity is even severe. Between 2018 and 2019, the former group earned only 55% of what privileged socioeconomic groups did, while the latter earned just 50% of what urban workers did. The report further added that taxing the top 100 Indian billionaires at 2.5% or the top 10 Indian billionaires at 5% would practically pay the whole cost needed for re-enrolling the youngsters in school.
According to Oxfam, the research combines qualitative and quantitative data to examine the effects of inequality in India. According to Oxfam, since the beginning of the pandemic to November 2022, the wealth of India’s billionaires has increased by 121%, or Rs 3,608 crore a day, in real terms. Oxfam also reported that the number of billionaires in India climbed from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022. According to the report, the collective fortune of India’s 100 richest individuals has surpassed USD 660 billion (Rs 54,12 lakh crore), which is a huge sum that could cover the whole Union Budget for over 18 months.
According to Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India, “The country’s marginalized Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, women, and informal sector workers are continuing to suffer in a system which ensures the survival of the richest”. He added, “The poor are paying disproportionately higher taxes, spending more on essential items and services when compared to the rich. The time has come to tax the rich and ensure they pay their fair share.” Behar encouraged the Union’s finance minister to impose progressive tax policies, including a wealth tax and an inheritance tax, which, according to him, have a proven track record of reducing inequality.
Oxfam cited a national survey conducted by Fight Inequality Alliance India (FIA India) in 2021 as evidence that more than 80% of Indians support a tax on the wealthy and firms that made record profits during the Covid-19 outbreak. Oxfam also advocated for inheritance, property, and land taxes, as well as taxes on net wealth, while increasing the health sector’s budgetary allocation to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, as envisioned by the National Health Policy. Oxfam further stated that it also desires financial allocation for the strengthening of the public health systems.
