Last few weeks saw media reports from Oxfam / New World
Wealth , re: ownership of world’s wealth among its population
From reports published in
Times of India / Business Line / DNA , I tried to piece together , following
figures for India
INDIA POPULATION
( 2016 ) :
·
100
% ………………………………………. 1324 million
·
1
% ………………………………………….. 13
million ( rounded off )
·
99
% …………………………………………. 1311 million
INDIA TOTAL WEALTH :
·
2016
………………………………………….. $ 6,600
Billion
·
2017
………………………………………….. $ 8,230
Billion ( $ 8,230,000 million
)
2016 SCENARIO
:
Finding : India’s 1 % of persons held its 58 % of wealth ( in 2016
)
Implying :
·
13 million Indians ( 1 % ) , held $ 3,828
Billion = $ 3,828,000 million ( 58 % ) of wealth
·
So , each of these Indian held $ 294,000
of wealth !
·
Balance 99 % of Indian held 42 % of the
wealth
·
So, 1311 million Indian held $ 2,772 Billion
= $ 2,772,000 million of the wealth
·
So, each of those poor Indians held $ 2082 worth of wealth !
WHAT IF ALL
THE WEALTH WAS
EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG ALL ?
·
$ 6,600,000 Million to be distributed
equally among 1324 million Indians
·
That would give each Indian , $ 4,985 worth of wealth
·
So each of these poor Indian would get transferred
into his account, some $ 2900 ( Rs 1,88,500 ) from those rich Indians ( ie : Rs
15,708 per month for next 12 months )
WEALTH CORNERED
DURING 2016-17
Finding :
·
Wealth generated during 2016-17
$ 1.63 Trillion ( $ 8.23 Trillion -
$ 6.6 Trillion ) = $ 1,630
Billion = $ 1,630,000
Million
·
73 % of generated wealth ( = $ 1.19
Trillion = $ 1,190 Billion = $ 1,190,000 Million ) cornered by 1 % of
population ( ie : by 13 million Indians )
·
So , each of those 13 million rich Indians,
“ cornered “, $ 91,538 of the Wealth generated
·
Balance 27 % of the wealth ( = 27 % of $
1.63 Trillion = $ 0.44 Trillion = $ 440 Billion = $ 440,000 million ) , went to
1311 million Indians
·
So , each of those poor Indian managed to “
corner “ , $ 335 worth of wealth
QUESTIONS
:
·
Can there be a somewhat better ( less
unequal ) distribution of wealth cornered by the rich 1 % of the Indians by
taxing them more ( than at present ) ?
·
How much more can we think of taxing the
rich , with the sole
purpose of obtaining a better distribution of wealth ?
·
If we agree that no amount of additional
taxing of the rich , can bring about rationalization of
wealth distribution , then what “ other purpose “ can taxing of the super-rich , serve ?
·
Could that purpose be “ raising of resources “
for Infrastructure
building ?
·
If so , how much resources can be raised (
for this Infrastructure Building purpose ) , by how much extra tax on the rich
?
·
If this ( additional tax on the rich )
, is unlikely to serve this other
purpose , what else can we do to raise resources ( for Infrastructure Spending
) ?
I hope some Economic
Experts will come up with an explanation of which “ purpose “ has 2018 tax
proposals have managed to address
03 Feb 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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