Hyderabad: Civil society groups protest for implementation of wealth tax

Hyderabad: Members of the Association for Socio-economic Empowerment of the Marginalised (ASEEM) held a protest in Charminar on Sunday demanding the rich be taxed according to their wealth status in order to strip down wealth inequality.

As per reports, India is currently the home to the largest number of poor in the world. ASEEM said that the wealth and income disparity can potentially impact future growth and development.

S Q Masood from the civil society organisation spoke to Siasat.com, saying, “We need to understand that wealth tax is an important redistributive policy. We demand that governments all over the world should take steps to address the growing wealth inequality. We demand that the rich be taxed as per their income status, in other words, integrate the wealth tax policy into a larger fiscal policy framework.”

Masoor added that it is the corporate sector’s responsibility to work with governments in creating an equal and stable society for a stronger economy.

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India’s richest 1% own more than 40% of total wealth: Report

According to a report, there has been an enormous concentration of wealth and income in a few hands, more so at the time of recent COVID-19 pandemic. “Every counter in South Asia has a level of disposable income inequality high enough for it to be reducing per capita GDP growth by between 1% and 4%,” the report said.

India has the highest income inequality.

One of the main reasons for income inequality is disproportionate profiting, a highly regressive tax system, and a huge budget deficit.