This bounty for corporate houses comes at a time when common people are reeling under a slowdown, joblessness is at record levels and incomes are stagnating.
Continuing her series of press conferences, that are becoming like a treasure hunt for corporates, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced today that corporate tax rates will be slashed from the current 30% (average) to 25.17% including all cess/surcharge. Actually, if no other concession is availed of, then the effective tax rate will be down to 22%. In addition to this massive concession, the finance minister also announced a slew of measures easing taxes on new companies, share buybacks, capital gains, etc.
In all, these concessions add up to a staggering Rs.1.45 lakh crore, which Sitharaman described as a “stimulus” to the economy but which actually means that much loss of taxes.
With this latest announcement, the second edition of Modi government has set a dubious record of giving freebies to corporates – in just 120 days it has announced 33% more concessions than the whole of last year. In the combined five and a half years of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule since 2014, Rs.5.76 lakh crore worth of corporate freebies have been announced.
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