New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) The Swadeshi Jagran Manch has expressed dissatisfaction over lowering of income tax rate applicable on high-net-worth individuals, saying the government should have revoked passports of the super-rich leaving the country citing higher tax rate instead of giving them such a relief.

SJM co-convenor Ashwami Mahajan noted that the Union Budget 2023-24, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Wednesday, proposed to reduce the income tax rate from the current 42.74 per cent to 39 per cent applicable on high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) in a bid to stop them from leaving the country.

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“Many people are leaving the country due to various reasons, saying we will work in some other country because tax rates are high here,” Mahajan said.

The government has proposed to provide relief to this segment of tax payers in a bid to stop them from leaving the country, he said.

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“If I were the finance minister, I would have asked the prime minister to first stop all these super rich people from leaving the country and revoke their passports," Mahajan said in an exclusive video interview to PTI.

The co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) said the government should not let these high-net-worth individuals, who have left the country due to the tax rate applicable on them, return to India ever.

“India has to be taken on the path of progress. We do not have to make such people a part of India's growth story,” he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)