US President Barack Obama chose his State of the Union Address to demand a better spread of wealth through a brand of "middle-class economics". He joins many leaders from the developed world in calling for action on inequality. Where is India headed and where should it be headed?
‘Wealth: Having it all and wanting more’ , a research paper published by Oxfam in January 2015, shows that the richest 1 percent have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014, and at this rate, it will be more than 50 percent in 2016. The 80 richest people on the planet have the same wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people, the report says.
Nice article, Ujval, and so relevant for India. While we lag the world in probably all indices, and have some of the worst HDI, we seem to have achieved world average in wealth concentration. Maybe the idea of inheritance tax for the top 1% of the population with some fairly high cut-off is an idea whose time has come.
on Feb 7, 2015Thanks. Indeed, the so called \'developed\' world has a very high incidence of inheritance tax despite gen-to-gen wealth transfers not being as prevalent as in India (where it\'s the default option). About time India did as well. At the same time, countries like the US have skewed income taxes - Warren Buffett cribs about the fact that his secretary\'s marginal tax rate is higher than his (and is advocating raising taxes for the ultra-rich)! The world could do with more such billionaires if there have to be so many.
on Feb 7, 2015