We are totally inclusive already.

Speaking on the occasion of Independence Day on 15 August the Prime Minister Narendra Modi "called on the nation to honour wealth creators", wrote A Maira. "The logic of lauding the wealthy is that the country needs them to create more wealth before it is distributed." This is known as 'trickle-down economics'. "Trickle-down economics assumes investors, savers, and company owners are the real drivers of growth. It promises they'll use any extra cash from tax cuts to expand business," wrote K Amadeo. That should create new jobs, creating wealth, and increase tax collection. "Only 20 million Indians out of a population of over one billion invest in mutual funds and stocks." So Maira recommends, "Rather than being driven by numerical goals of its size, policy solutions must be a vision of a reshaped inclusive economy." India is definitely not a 'trickle-down economy' because taxes are very high on businesses and on the middle-class. "In 1946-47, the maximum marginal rate of tax on personal incomes was 96.88%," wrote P Mehra. This was brought down to 30% in 1997-98 but has been raised to 42.7% in this year's budget. "The corporate tax rate was among the highest across 171 countries in 2018. High rates encourage firms to push profits overseas to low-tax jurisdictions." "In 2018, the tax rates in most countries averaged between 23 and 26.4 percent," wrote S Punj. Corporate tax rate in the US was cut from 35% to 21% by President Donald Trump. Government rules and high taxes force businesses to remain small and informal. "The number of informal sector workers increased from 341.28 million in 1999-2000 to 386.02 million in 2011-12" and the "Number of formal workers increased by 81.5% from 20.46 million to 37.15 million in the same time period," wrote P Salve. Even in the formal sector jobs created were mainly informal, "employing workers with low earning and with limited or no social protection". Politicians of all parties have been practicing "inclusive economy" by competing for social schemes to uplift the poor to win elections, wrote TK Arun. Modi won this year's general election, by not only continuing with schemes started by the Congress, but by substantially adding to them, wrote Prof Ila Patnaik. Social schemes need money, which is why India has such high taxes. Taxes are disguised as social schemes to earn support of the 'vote bank'. The Budget proposed to imprison company officials for up to 3 years for not complying with the Company Social Responsibility law, which was passed by the Congress. Private hospitals maybe driven to bankruptcy by the Ayushman scheme to provide tertiary healthcare to the poor. Given constant changes of rules using coercion to extract as much taxes as possible it is no wonder that manufacturing makes up only 15% of GDP. The economy runs on consumer spending and so when sales of even Rs 5 biscuits start to fall it is time to worry, wrote A Mukherjee. What's the remedy? Increase cash handouts to Rs 72,000 per year, wrote P Chakravarty of the Congress. If it's not working, increase it.