Centre giving tax benefits to few chosen big corporates: Jairam Ramesh

The Congress on Wednesday accused the central government of giving tax benefits to a few chosen big corporate conglomerates and doing "anyay" (injustice) to the poor and common people of the country.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the money generated from personal income tax is higher than corporate tax and alleged this is a direct result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving corporate tax cut to his chosen friends while the poor are reeling under the onslaught of price rise and high taxes.

"For the first time in over three decades (excluding the 2020-21 pandemic), the Union government is generating more money from personal income tax (Rs 10 lakh crore) than it is from corporate tax (Rs 9 lakh crore).

"This is the direct result of PM Modi giving his close friends a Rs 1.84 lakh crore handout in the form of the September 2019 corporate tax cut just before he left for Houston's Howdy Modi event to boost Trump's re-election campaign," he said in a post on X.

"This handout benefitted the 0.7 per cent largest firms in 2019, even as the poor, the middle class and small businesses reel from price rise and high taxes," he also said.

Far from stimulating investments and jobs, the corporate tax cut resulted in a 19-year low in the share of corporate investment in 2022-23, even as profits went sky high, Ramesh claimed.

"The tax cuts instead went straight into the pockets of the PM's friends, as many experts had warned at the time," the Congress leader said.

He accused the Modi government of completely letting down the poor and the middle class and said private consumption growth this year has been the slowest since 2002-03.

"This is the reality of Modi's Atmanirbharta: all benefits for a few chosen conglomerates and ANYAY for everyone else," Ramesh alleged.