Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia has suggested that India should consider a 55% inheritance tax to become a more competitive nation.
In a post on X, he said that opportunities should come from what people build themselves rather than simply from what they inherit.
Inheritance tax is a tax levied when someone’s property is transferred to their children. In simple words, it is a tax on the division of a person’s property after their death. After the property is divided, some part of it has to be paid to the government by the concerned family as tax. Estate Duty was a form of tax calculated at the time of a person’s death.
So, a 55% inheritance tax would mean that 55% of the inherited property would be paid to the government as tax, while the remaining 45% would stay with the concerned family. An inheritance tax law existed in India until former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scrapped it in 1985. It was introduced through the Estate Duty Act, 1953.
