Govt using public money for corporate benefit: CPI-M

The CPI-M on Friday accused the BJP-led government of amending the Income Tax Act to give concessions to the corporates and superrich to the tune of Rs. 1.45 lakh crore and said the "corporate-communal nexus was imposing greater miseries on the Indian people".

In a statement, the CPI-M politburo said the concessions announced come over the Rs. 70,000 crore of concessions to the realty and exports sectors recently.

The party said the measures announced by the government cannot help improve people's livelihood or reviving the economy.

"What is needed is large doses of public investment to create employment and increase people's purchasing power. The government is pursuing the exact opposite which is nothing else but loot of Indian money for the private corporate benefit and speculative profit," it said.

It alleged "misappropriation" of the reserves of the Reserve Bank of India to the tune of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore "is now being transferred to the corporates instead of it being used for increasing public investments that will generate employment and increase people's purchasing power".

The party demanded that the money taken from the RBI reserves be used for public investment to build much-needed infrastructure.

It said the "current economic recession" in India is caused by the lack of demand as people do not have the purchasing power.

"These efforts reversing the budget announcements cannot reverse the economic recession as people simply do not have the money to buy what may be produced. With the global economic slowdown and a huge fall in world trade any hope of increasing our exports will also come to a naught," the statement said.

The party said that the corporate tax, including surcharge and cess, has been reduced from 34.94 to 25.17 per cent.

"This is a massive concession of about 10 percentage points. Further, companies making fresh investments from October 1, 2019 will have the option of paying taxes of 17.01 per cent inclusive of surcharges," it said.

It said the budget announcement of an enhanced surcharge on capital gains has now been withdrawn providing a massive benefit to foreign portfolio investors.

"This comes on the eve of Modi's visit to the USA and his brazen attempt to woo portfolio investors from the US and the rest of the world," the CPI-M said.

"In a situation of alarmingly rising unemployment, layoffs, retrenchment and fall in real incomes of the working people, none of these measures can help improve people's livelihood or reviving the economy," the party added.