Flat income tax system undesirable: Industry & trade officials
30 Nov 2017 5:00 PM GMT
Hyderabad: As the taskforce to draft a new direct tax law gets cracking, industry and trade officials say a flat rate income tax system is undesirable for a country like India with wide income inequality.
The new law is to replace the existing Income Tax Act, 1961.
"A flat rate is not progressive in an unequal society," Ficci Secretary General Sanjaya Baru said, when asked about suggestions in some quarters for a flat income tax framework as is prevalent in countries like Russia.
The current income tax slabs in India compare favourably with most democracies where the government is expected to invest in social welfare and infrastructure, he said.
According to Assocham National Council Chairman Rahul Garg, progressive rates of income tax are desirable to attain the objective of fairness in the income tax system.
Given the revenue resource requirements of the country, Garg said a very low rate of income tax is not immediately feasible. And it would be unfair to levy a relatively high rate of income tax on all income groups, he maintained.
Hence, a system prescribing higher rate of income tax for a higher income group helps garner revenue without becoming burdensome on lower income taxpayers, Garg explained.
Infosys' former chief financial officer V Balakrishnan observed that for a developing country like India, which is in lower middle income bracket, a flat tax structure may not be an equitable one. Income inequality in India is one of the highest, with 22 per cent of the national income going to top 1 per cent.
"This is one of the highest since the creation of the Income Tax Act... as per a research paper published by renowned economist Thomas Piketty," he said.
India's current tax system, according to Balakrishnan, is progressive in nature, with tax rates going up when the income level goes up.
"Only with a progressive tax system, such wide income inequalities can be addressed. I believe that a flat tax system will be regressive, considering India's current situation," he pointed out.
He spoke of the "great success" of the Russian model of the flat tax system, but "it is not just that which created the miracle". The reforms in Russia were accompanied by several changes -- in both the structure and the administration of taxes.
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