'Inheritance tax could nullify India's decade of progress': Nirmala Sitharaman

Bengaluru: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday cast her vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru's BEs college .

Speaking after casting her vote the Finance Minister said that the people wanted PM Modi to continue in office. "I want more and more people to come out and vote...I think it is clear that people want a stable government, they want good policies, progress and development and that is why they are coming out. They want to see PM Modi continue his term."

Sitharaman also criticized the Congress for advocating an inheritance tax-like law, stating that it could nullify India's progress over the last decade.

Sitharaman also said that the inheritance tax directly impacts the middle class and aspirational class. "It (the inheritance tax) directly hits the middle class. It directly hits the aspirational class. They work hard, sweat and toil of theirs are saved in small savings here and there, or they buy a house, a dream house, and keep some fixed deposits. All this is going to be exposed to the so-called property tax," she told ANI.

Sitharaman also accused the Congress party of targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they have no positive agendas to speak about.

"Because they have no issue on their own in order to say 'this is what we will do for the people of India, take India forward, bring opportunities for the youth, take India in a global leadership role', they have none of these positive agendas to speak about. So they are constantly hitting at the Prime Minister, they are doing personal attacks, and even worse, they are bringing in things that they cannot implement" she said.

A controversy erupted after the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, while emphasising the need for policy towards wealth redistribution, spoke about the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in America and said that these are issues that will need to be discussed.

However, the Congress party has distanced itself from the remarks and said that inheritance tax laws do not reflect the position of the party.

(ANI)