Towards Tax Justice and Wealth Redistribution in India

Income and wealth inequality in India have reached historical highs under the billionaire raj. These extreme inequalities and their close link with social injustices can no longer be ignored. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive wealth tax package for the ultra-rich to tackle concentration at the very top of the distribution and create valuable fiscal space for crucial social sector investments. Such proposals could deliver phenomenally large tax revenues while leaving 99.96% of the adults unaffected by the tax. Further, we show that this would entail support to the poor, lower castes, and middle classes, to the detriment of only a tiny number of ultra-wealthy upper-caste families.