Taxing 'very rich' should be considered: FM

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has talked about a stable tax regime during his meetings with foreign investors in the last two days, has said that the argument for taxing the very rich 'a little more' should be considered.

"I believe in stable tax rates.

"However, I must concede that there is an argument, underline the word argument, that when the economy requires, when the government requires more resources the very rich should willingly pay a little more.

. . .

"That is not to say that tax rate should not be stable.

"I think we should have stability in tax rates but we should consider the argument whether the very rich should be asked to pay a little more on some occasions," he told CNBC TV18.

However, he hastened to add, "but that is not a view I am expressing.

"That is simply an argument that I have heard and I am repeating."

Chidambaram said tax rates that were announced in 1997 (in the Budget he had presented then), have remained and have survived four governments and four finance ministers.

. . .

On the Budget to be presented next month, he said the Budget is not drawn up keeping an election in mind.

"The election is a good 14 months away from the Budget.

The Finance Minister said if on February 28 he could show that the government has kept fiscal deficit below 5.3 per cent and if Budget estimates show that the next year's fiscal deficit will be below 4.8 per cent, then he can show a healthy growth in revenues over next year.

. . .

"I think that is the time when rating agencies should consider moving us from. . . . I mean improving the outlook and then improving the rating," he said.

Several experts, including chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan, have underlined the need for imposing higher rates of taxes on super rich.

On Wednesday, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji had said the suggestion for taxing the super-rich was a 'politically' correct thing to do, but expressed doubts whether the government will actually implement the proposal.

India taxes income at three rates -- 10 per cent, 20 per cent and 30 per cent. These rates were fixed in 1997.