The best tax policy for the taxman is one that maximizes tax revenue, and not one that maximizes his morality, or his employment, or his discretionary powers.
With the government swimming in tax revenues, it makes little economic, or revenue, sense to reintroduce the long term capital gains tax after a hiatus of 14 years. Why?!
India can, and must, reform its welfare system for a transforming India – more efficient redistribution is desirable for both ethical, and political, reasons.
The implied savings estimates for India, derived from his calculations of income distribution, do not conform to any known model of savings behaviour
A direct outcome of demonetisation is a sharp increase in 2017-18 in tax buoyancy (revenues per unit of growth). Given this ‘unexpected’ result, will the knee-jerk critics of demonetisation please stand down?
The world is on course for good growth, low inflation, lower taxation and increased income support for the needy. And yes – declining global inequality.
This election was the first since slow economic growth was apparent and in the data. A slow economy, however, was not the only factor — after all, in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP won by a large margin.
For whom will the Gujarat election toll – a confident BJP or a reviving Congress? The opinion polls suggest that Gujarat may not be a Rahul Gandhi moment.
Here is a modest proposal to bring about much-needed accountability to the decisions of the RBI (and MPC): Let the RBI governor be questioned by Parliament twice a year
The first year of operation of the Monetary Policy Committee has imposed considerable costs on the economy with very few benefits. What explains its decisions?
A forthcoming book explains that inflation, which haunted the world in the Seventies and the Eighties, is now only a windmill to be tilted at
It was about both politics and economics. It is an acknowledged political success and early ‘returns’ indicate an economic success story as well.
Surveys on hunger suggest that like poverty, it is more a relative, than absolute, concept. The best policy to increase nutrition is via sanitation and clean water.
We all have a choice — we can either debate evidence, or manufacture conclusions
The incomes of the poorest are rising at a faster pace than any time since January 2015. That could be the reason for Modi winning elections and why the growth slowdown will soon reverse.
Inflation is down by 700 bp since 2013, and policy rates have declined by 200bp — and you are still wondering why GDP growth is slow?
In India we have a monetary authority that admits to not understanding inflation — but persists in damaging an already weak economy because it does not understand it
Average CPI inflation for eight months since September 2016 has been 3.7 per cent. How long are you going to wait and watch, MPC, before you admit that you were wrong in your assessment?
The old elite won’t give up their privileges easily. They will try to derail the structural transformation happening in India and object at every turn.
It is politics that best explains the phenomena of farmer riots amidst growing prosperity.
