BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, in a recent speech at the Indian Merchants’ Chamber, said he would abolish income tax in the next three years.
“If I am a part of the government, I could do it in seven days. Since I am outside, I will abolish income tax completely over the next three years,” he said. “The corrupt income tax system should be scrapped.”
The BJP government will complete its five-year term in three years from now, that is in 2019.
Dr. Swamy said the rich knew how to avoid tax and the poor were not in the tax bracket. “It is the middle class, young professionals, salaried employees who pay tax.”
According to Dr. Swamy, the revenue that is generated from income tax, Rs. 2 lakh crore, could be generated from other sources such as spectrum and coal auction. If there was no tax burden, there would be more savings by households, which could be channelised into investments.
The country should increase its growth rate, as the present level was not enough to remove poverty and unemployment. “Our growth has been higher than many countries. But this is not enough. We need to grow at least by 10 per cent for 10 years to end poverty and unemployment,” he said.
Dr.Swamy highlighted need to revive the agriculture and small and medium enterprise sector.
“The SME sector needs credit from the domestic banks. They need to get credit at 9 per cent. So, we need a low interest rate economy. That can only happen if we send [RBI Governor] Raghuram Rajan back to Chicago,” he said.
Dr. Swamy had written to Prime Minisiter Narendra Modi requesting him not to extend Mr. Rajan’s tenure, which expires in September.
