'Tax people to death': YouTuber Akshat Shrivastava says leaders in India not focused on building wealth; netizens react

Prominent YouTuber Akshat Shrivastava noted on Monday that India did not seem to have a 'game-plan' beyond ”taxing people to death". He also contended that there were no leaders in the country who were talking about ‘sensible taxation’ or an increase in exports or ways to roll back reservations and freebies.

"Our game-plan seems to be: tax people to death. Use their money to support freeloaders. And, then expect them to stay and ‘build’ the nation," he contended in a lengthy social media post.

The Wisdom Hatch founder claimed that an ‘average city in China’ now had better infrastructure than a major metro city in India. He also highlighted the ongoing immigration debate in the US that has seen many many prominent leaders including President-elect Donald Trump back the H-1B visa policy.

"Singapore has transformed its economy to the point where they are now rejecting multi-millionaires from settling there. They got to this point in the last 50 years. Thailand and Vietnam are way ahead on their tourism, compared to India. Give it 15 more years, India will be no where near,” he warned in a lengthy social media post.

Netizens however insisted that the problem did not rest solely with the government — irrespective of the party in power.

“If we're being fair we need to criticise the public as well. We vote these politicians into power based on their freebie promises. Any party who deviates from the freebie path is voted out immediately (BJP in Himachal and Karnataka lost to Congress' ultra freebie model). Most people don't want infra, or development, or progress or education. They want freebies. The government is simply obliging,” noted one X user.

“The focus mostly is on what to do for next five years so that people are happy and fetch votes no long term vision,” lamented another.

(With inputs from agencies)