Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s demand for the abolition of Income Tax and Service Tax in lieu of his support to the BJP received a positive response from the party leadership, which on Sunday promised to bring about radical reforms in existing taxation structure to ease the ‘enormous burden’ on the common man.
Ramdev’s demand for a future Government to make efforts to bring back black money and making provision for assured income for farmers also received approval from the BJP. At a function organised by Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said the country needed ‘determination and not promises’ to change the taxation regime.
“The existing taxation regime is a huge burden on people. Reform is certainly needed to rationalise it. leaders of the BJP are working on it. If there is a will there is a way. We are sure of finding a way out,” Modi said. BJP president Rajnath Singh too seconded the yoga guru’s demand. “The alternative of (banking) transaction tax is very good. We will consider it and do the best we can,” he said.
leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley expressed support for the proposals saying the party would examine them in all seriousness. “The expectation and hope, which Baba Ramdev has put in the BJP and me personally, we will try our best to live up to that...My party leaders and experts have recently met and considered the issue for over three hours. Some problems may appear in the first sight but we will have a look at it and find new solutions,” he said.
These remarks assume significance as the BJP leaders are discussing amongst themselves to promise in its vision document a taxation structure which would do away with Income Tax and Service Tax. Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari had last month said that he was contemplating incorporating a proposal to abolish income, sales and excise taxes in the vision document of his party.
The yoga guru claimed the common man was made to pay 32 different direct and indirect taxes which were leading to the problem of black money generation. He claimed prices of essential commodities and inflation rate would come down by over 30 per cent if a future Government abolishes this tax.
“A gas cylinder which should actually cost Rs 300 is being given at Rs 1,200. Similarly, the original price of petrol and diesel is about Rs 30-40, but after imposing several taxes they were being sold at over Rs 70 per litre. This should change,” he demanded. He claimed that an exemption of Rs 31 lakh crore have been given in different taxes in the last decade.
Modi asked the Yoga Guru to look at the “track record” of the person instead of “promises” before lending his support. Modi surprisingly spared the Prime Minister, who made a fiery attack on him in his recent press conference, but ripped apart the economic policies of the UPA Government. Modi blamed Manmohan Singh’s economic policies for the woes of the people and said it had resulted in the decline of manufacturing industry, which required an immediate boost if economy was to recover.
He said a “policy paralysis” had resulted in lack of coal for power industry despite India having vast reserves of it. Power projects have stalled, forcing us to import steel as industrialists cannot manufacture it here in the absence of electricity even though we have plenty of iron ore, he said.
He also spoke about recent cases of gold smuggling, invoking decades of 60s and 70s when it was rampant and caused the rise of underworld. “Even sand is being smuggled these days. We are talking about corruption. State needs progressive policy drive and its execution with transparency. It will remove corruption,” he said.