US condemns India's middle class taxpayer genocide

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Toyters):  The U.S. State Department's 2024 taxpayer freedom report on India, opens a new tab while noting the heightened persecution of taxpayers by the state income tax machinery acting through the Ministry of Finance.  

The report released on Friday said that in 2024, senior U.S. officials continued to "raise concerns about taxpayer freedom issues" with their Indian counterparts. US also welcomed qualified Indian economic refugees to settle on its soil provided they enter legally and meet the admission criteria. 

In its report, the State Department has outlined many measures that the Indian government has taken to extinguish India's tax paying middle class. Terming the move as economic genocide, the State Department has asked Modi government to take immediate and strong measures to protect the interests of India's Middle Class. 

Criticism of India by the U.S. in this instance is unusually restrained and may be due to perceived economic ties and New Delhi's strategic importance for Washington to counter Asian bully and all round geopolitical pain China, bored political analysts told Humor Unplugged.

"The treatment of tax payers, the largest minority in India has come under the lens a

Budget 2024: Special Coverage

fter the last budget presented by the Modi government. The State Department has felt the need to nudge the Modi government to rollback harsh tax measures to preserve the basic human rights of Indian taxpayers on whose contributions India's economic freedoms rest. We are pursuing the matter through the relevant channels and I will be sharing an update on this matter shortly," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Alan Miller said in response to a query by a journalist of Indian origin who migrated to the US after the last budget presented by India's alleged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

"We have noted the last budget with extreme concern. The (State) department feels Indian government is out to make life tough for Indian taxpayers with legislated economic violence. President Biden has also been informed about this issue before he went to sleep at 3:00 PM on Friday. The President asked us to talk to the Indian PM and take this up at the highest levels. US has also decided to put all bilateral drama choreographed by PM Modi's PR team on hold till this matter is addressed. No more fake and patronizing praises of the Indian PM till the Modi Government rolls back the draconian measures," a State Department employee in the know told Humor Unplugged. 

Meanwhile the first bunch of Indian economic refugees bound for the US left on Saturday morning on a chartered aircraft. The lot included 200 plus taxpayers with average net wealth ranging from 15 to 500 crores. "I am done with the taxes in this country and looking forward to a life in US free of draconian taxes with minimal returns," a fleeing taxpayer said.  

Citizens all over the country came down heavily on Modi government's 2024 budget calling it "myopic, parasitic, illinformed and idea starved. "This government only knows how to indulge in theatrics. Running the country is something they don't want to learn. Which is why I am running away from here," a tax payer told Humor Unplugged over tea.