80% Indians say tax the rich, companies that made mega profits during COVID-19

At least 80 per cent people support taxing the rich along with the corporations that earned record profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA) India, a network of non-profits and civil society organisations.

The study included 3,231 respondents of which 23 per cent are from urban areas and 77 from the rural areas. Of the total respondents, 65.2 per cent were male and 34.7 per cent female.

While 89.3 per cent people want the government to impose a temporary tax on companies making massive profits during the pandemic, 84 per cent of the respondents expressed the need to impose a 2 per cent COVID surcharge on the individuals earning more than Rs 2 crore per annum.

In addition, 89 per cent of respondents wanted the government to impose fines on private companies who do not fulfil environmental norms. The report says that an alliance of global investors has accused 37 Indian companies, including Dabur India Ltd, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, of allegedly not disclosing the full extent of their impact on climate crisis, water shortage and deforestation as “there has been an increasing demand from the public to address climate change and improve the environment conditions.”

The combined wealth of Indian billionaires more than doubled during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional 1 per cent tax on the richest 10 per cent can fund the total expenditure of school education under the Ministry of Education for 25 years or provide the country with nearly 17.7 lakh extra oxygen cylinders, while a similar wealth tax on the 98 richest billionaire families would finance Ayushman Bharat, the world's largest health insurance scheme, for more than seven years, the report stated.

In contrast, only 36.2 per cent preferred higher tax rebates to large corporates and the super-rich. About 53.7 per cent disagreed on the proposition and 10 per cent of the respondents were unsure about it. In September 2019, the government announced a massive tax rate cut, lowering the base corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent, and to 15 per cent from 25 per cent for new manufacturing companies.

The Oxfam India recently reported that the corporate tax cut has resulted in a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which has contributed to the increase in India's fiscal deficit. Majority of respondents opposed further subsidies to corporates and the super-rich, the report found.

Remarkably, a temporary solidarity tax on the wealthy and super-rich was initiated in Peru, in the form of a one-off wealth tax on the richest 10,000 citizens, aiming to raise $3 billion for social spending for those impacted by the pandemic. Climate advocates believe that imposing fines would not only serve the purpose of improving the environment but will also help in generating revenue for the government to support delivery of social services. American economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E Stiglitz also recently advocated taxing the super-rich class in India to raise resources for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.