Is India’s Tax-To-GDP Ratio Too High Or Too Low?

The Centre for Social and Economic Progress is delighted to invite you to a seminar titled “Is India’s Tax-To-GDP Ratio Too High or Too Low?” on Thursday, 1 August 2024, from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. About the event: The near-universal conventional wisdom in India is that the country has a significant tax revenue gap, meaning India’s tax collection is too low relative to its needs and potential. Some argue that India may be lagging by about 7 percentage points of GDP. Important cross-country data released by the IMF in 2021 can provide insights into the nature and magnitude of this tax gap. The IMF offers data by tax category for over 170 countries over the past two decades. These data cover all levels of government—central, state, and local—and are therefore an ideal resource to assess and compare the nature and magnitude of our presumed tax gap. This lecture will examine the revenue implications of the substantial 2019 corporate tax cut in India (from 30% to 22%). Speaker(s) Surjit S. Bhalla Former Executive Director for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan, IMF Discussant(s) Arbind Modi Former Member (Legislation), CBDT Chair Montek Singh Ahluwalia Distinguished Fellow, CSEP All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.