Lower Taxes To Boost Business: Daniel Mitchell

By: Prof. Satyendra Kumar Singh ( News Editor-ICN Group )

LUCKNOW: A focussed group discussion was held at PHD Chamber, Lucknow on the topic “India and the US: Learning from one another’s experience vis-a-vis competitiveness and EODB”. Mukesh B Singh, Co-Chairman UP Committee welcomed the guest speaker Daniel Mitchell, Economist, Center for Freedom and Prosperity.

The major points that Daniel Mitchell highlighted were that for business to flourish it is government that has to do is to lower down the taxes and have modest regulatory burden. It should promote open trade and protect property rights. There should be no inflation and there must exist the rule of law. However due to political influences it is difficult to maintain a good policy.

He further added that there should be a free and open internal market. The citizens must be free to choose where to live, work, save, invest or shop. There should be a competition between states in terms of good policies and services offered.

India is at 100th position in World Bank Business Ranking as compared to its 136th position earlier. It is at position 4 for protecting investors and at 29th position each for getting electricity and getting credit respectively. However it is at 181st place for construction permits.

Daniel Mitchell suggested that the lessons that must be learnt from the US is that investors, entrepreneurs and business migrate to places with more economic freedom; that a properly designed federal system leads to virtuous competition among states, and that market-oriented states in USA grow faster and create more jobs.

An interesting learning that emerged during this session was that in US the education system is actually managed by the state governments and the teachers’ union have a bureaucratic approach because of which the students who pass out score low in different tests. This is a situation when US has the highest spending per capita for education in the world. Still the employers are not getting desired skills. However in India the private sector inclusion in the education sector has been a success story as it has enhanced the standards of education.

He opined that the people should be encouraged to make their own money without much of government support and intervention and there is a need for multi-stakeholder platforms outside the political arena wherein economic and political economy issues could be discussed.

Daniel told that the Indians and the Chinese are the highest earners there. They prefer to be entrepreneurs and hence create local employment as well. Indians are regarded high for their IT skills.

The event was graced by the presence of Kanika Balani Senior Research Associate, CUTS International. Prof Satyendra Kumar Singh News Editor ICN also attended this session.

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