Says he can do it in seven days if he is a part of the government

Outspoken Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy, in a speech at the Indian Merchants’ Chamber on Thursday, said he will abolish income tax in the next three years.

“If I am a part of the government, I could do it in 7 days. Since I am outside, I will abolish income tax completely over the next three years,” Mr. Swamy said. “The corrupt income tax system should be scrapped.”

The BJP government will complete its five-year term in three years from now, that is in 2019.

He said the rich know how to avoid tax and the poor are not in the tax bracket. “It is the middle class, young professionals, salaried employees who pay tax,” he said.

According to Mr. Swamy, the revenue that is generated from income tax, Rs. 2 lakh crore, could be generated from other sources such as spectrum and coal auction. He said if there is no tax burden, there will be more savings by households, which could be channelised into investments.

He also said the country needs to increase its growth rate, as the present level of growth in not enough to remove poverty and unemployment.

“Our growth has been higher than many countries. But this is not enough. We need to grow at least by 10 per cent for 10 years to end poverty and unemployment,” Mr. Swamy said.

He highlighted the need to revive the agriculture and small and medium enterprise sector.

“The SME sector needs credit from the domestic banks. They need to get credit at 9 per cent. So, we need a low interest rate economy. That can only happen if we send [RBI Governor] Raghuram Rajan back to Chicago,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Swamy had written to Prime Minisiter Narendra Modi requesting him not to extend Mr. Rajan’s tenure, which expires in September.