Union Budget must eliminate ‘raid raj and tax terrorism’, says Congress

Congress criticizes Modi government's policies for hurting investors, manufacturing jobs, and wages, urging radical budget changes for improvement.

The Congress claimed Sunday (January 19, 2025) the Modi government's "retrograde policies" have broken the confidence of investors in India and converted "ease of doing business to unease in doing business".

The upcoming budget must eliminate "raid raj and tax terrorism" to fix this, the Opposition party said.

It also called on the government to take action to protect Indian manufacturing jobs and take decisive action to shore up wages and purchasing power.

Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the Modi government has long proclaimed its desire to improve the "ease of doing business" in India but yet in the past decade "we have only seen an easing of private investment which has fallen to record lows and the easing out of businesspersons who have departed India in large numbers for foreign shores".

"A byzantine, punitive, and arbitrary tax regime covering both GST and income tax - which amounts to sheer Tax Terrorism - is now the greatest threat to India's prosperity and has contributed to an 'unease of doing business'," he said in a statement.

The biggest component of investment which is private domestic investment has been weak since 2014, Ramesh said, adding it was solidly in the 25-30 per cent of GDP range during Manmohan Singh's tenure as PM.

"In the last ten years, it has collapsed to the 20-25 per cent of GDP range. This sluggish investment has been accompanied by a mass exodus of high-net-worth individuals. More than 17.5 lakh Indians have acquired the citizenship of another country over the past decade," he said.