Donald Trump News _ Donald Trump Administration To Slap 5_ Tax On International Remittance(360P)
#news
#dailymotion
#news
#dailymotion
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00It's now time to decode the Trump tax on remittances and how it's set to impact the Indians that are there.
00:07Well, it's a new financial storm, quite literally, that's blueing for millions of Indians in America.
00:13President Trump's one big, beautiful bill that's just passed a crucial vote.
00:18It comes with a stunning new tax.
00:21If passed, this law would slap a 5% tax on every dollar that's sent abroad by non-citizens,
00:27from H-1B workers to green card holders.
00:30That's right, no exemptions, not even for small amounts.
00:33Last year alone, Indian origin residents in the U.S. sent over 32 billion home.
00:39Under this bill, they would lose more than 1.6 billion dollars instantly.
00:43Remember the tax that is proposed.
00:45But the bill doesn't stop at just taxing your wallet.
00:48It would pour about 46 billion dollars into Trump's border wall deputation.
00:52That's where all this money is going to go.
00:54Remember, he's putting in billions of dollars in those immigration-related policies.
00:58And he's got to come up with ways to find new money.
01:02And this is one such money proposition that he's looking at.
01:06But I want to now talk about how this is going to impact Indians.
01:10Remember, there's a very large diaspora that lives there.
01:13Most of them are immigrants who are either H-1B holders or they are green card holders.
01:19And which is why what is happening is going to impact Indians very significantly.
01:23Before I get in the big questions, on your screen is we put up a case study.
01:27The average salary for a techie in the U.S. is in the range of about 90,000 to 100,000 dollars.
01:35Let's assume it is about 90,000 dollars.
01:37If you take away living expenses and education and other expenses, he is in a position or she is in a position to send back close to 50,000 dollars as remittances on the higher side.
01:49If she's able to do that, then the tax would be 5 percent on this amount, which is 2,500 dollars, a little over 2 lakh rupees.
01:58Why? Why is this being taxed? Why skilled labor is being targeted?
02:03Those are some of the big questions that we're going to put forth.
02:05Let's quickly put that out before we get into important voices from the diaspora to decode this.
02:10Well, first up, why is it that NRIs are set to face the heat over this new tax?
02:15The scale of the impact is the next question that we are putting out.
02:19Next up, make America wealthy again is a burden that rests on the shoulders of the high-performing, high-skilled Indian immigrants.
02:31And lastly, how will this impact the Indian techies, the H-1Bs?
02:35And the big question that we must always, of course, also point out and ask,
02:40which is that is the American dream in its present state over for a lot of those Indians there?
02:45Joining me are two very important and diaspora voices to understand this in greater detail.
02:52I have with me Dr. Bharat Barai, who is the chairman of the U.S.-India Community Foundation
02:56and Pramit Makodev, president, Global Citizen Forum, co-founder of the Boston Center of Excellence.
03:03Thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining me on this edition of India Global.
03:07Dr. Barai, let me start with you, sir.
03:09If this tax does come through, it will be a bit of a blow, isn't it,
03:13for people who want to work there and send back money, isn't it?
03:18I think this is ridiculous.
03:20For U.S. budget of 7.3 trillion dollars,
03:25it's going to add something like 2 billion to 3 billion dollars total, all the remittances.
03:31By the way, the Mexicans are number one when it comes to sending the residencies.
03:36And these are low-skilled workers who work in the farms or in the factories.
03:43And whatever is their savings, they try to send it to their families.
03:48In case of Indians, it's going to affect more people who are on green card, H-1B visa holders,
03:56or students who are working on OPT and trying to send their loan money back.
04:03I think this is a very ridiculous thing.
04:06And it has not passed yet, except that last night, Sunday night in the Budget Committee,
04:12it was advanced to the full house for consideration.
04:15I hope it does not pass.
04:17But because this is such a small amount in the total thing, it may pass anyway.
04:23But this is very unfair, especially to the people who are making less amount of money
04:29and trying to support their relatives or trying to pay back their student loans.
04:35Indeed.
04:36Pramut Pakudey, you want to come in there, your response on something like this.
04:41Gains may be very limited, but the downside would be disproportionate
04:44to all those immigrants wanting a better life for themselves and their family back home.
04:51Certainly, I do agree that this is going to be a setback to a lot of Indian Americans
04:57who are living here.
04:58But we need to also understand the broader context that Trump took point zero.
05:03It was very clearly mentioned that it is going to be America first.
05:07It is going to make America great again.
05:09And he has very categorically said that one of the important tasks is to make the balance sheet right.
05:18We have 34 trillion plus dollar of deficit.
05:21So there will be many more measures that you will see.
05:25But the good part here of what I see is that this is not an executive order.
05:29So you still have a chance that we can debate, we can lobby.
05:33And people like me and Barai Saab and many others, including the diplomatic channels of India.
05:39We need to use that and make sure that we talk with the congressmen, we talk with the senators
05:45and tell them the human side of it as well.
05:47That Indian Americans, when they come to America, mostly on H-1B visa workers,
05:52who will get impacted the most, they are not coming to America just by themselves
05:57because America has a shortage of skilled labor and that's why we are here.
06:02And if we are contributing significantly to the American economy,
06:07that's where we need to be seen in a different angle.
06:11And we need to educate the congressmen.
06:13And there is a good chance that we might be able to reduce this percentage.
06:17We are talking about right now 5% of the remittance tax.
06:20Or there is a chance that we can reduce it or we can get the recredit back
06:24because it is not just the remittances right now.
06:27There are, as you have mentioned, the path to citizenship or path to green card
06:33is a very long path in America.
06:35So many of them who worked here for 6 years, 8 years, even 10-12 years,
06:39they don't get a citizenship.
06:41They have a significant contribution to their 401k account,
06:45to their IRA account and to their social security account.
06:48Now, if the legitimate account that they have and the savings that they have,
06:52where America is not giving any benefits and reaping the benefits of their contribution
06:58for so long, if that gets taxed by 5%, it's totally unfair.
07:02It is unfair, unwanted.
07:04Hold your thought there, sir.
07:05I want to get in, Dr. Barai, on the fact that what are the possibilities
07:09of something like this actually going through?
07:12Because like you mentioned, even the Mexican political leadership,
07:16Mexican president is extremely upset.
07:18There is a very large section of Indians who are up in arms about a proposal like this.
07:25What are the odds of something like this actually passing through?
07:30Well, it may pass through, though we will try to get it overturned or removed
07:35because A, it has a small impact in total US budget.
07:39As I said, about 2.5 billion out of 7.3 trillion of budget.
07:45Second thing, this tax applies to non-citizens only.
07:50So if I send the money as US citizen to my family, then it will not be taxed.
07:56But it will be taxed only to green card holders, H-1B visa holders,
08:02and people who are on student visa.
08:04Now, the way Trump has tried to put it in the budget,
08:07although those illegals sending money abroad,
08:11so it has been put nicely to try to deceive the lawmakers,
08:15but it applies really to all non-citizens.
08:19So we will try our best.
08:20I would say there is 50-50 chance that it will pass
08:24because he will claim that this is the money that will be used
08:27for better control of immigration and building the wall.
08:31Let's see. We will try.
08:34Which brings me to ask a question to both of you, in fact.
08:37You know, Pravit, let me start with you
08:38and then I ask this question to Dr. Parai as well,
08:40which is that is Trump fanning these anti-immigrant sentiments even more?
08:46And you know, it started with illegals,
08:48but this is not illegals anymore, right?
08:50This is about legal immigrants.
08:52Even there, is he fanning an anti-immigrant sentiment?
08:56I think that one of the side effects of all these type of bills
09:02is there will be anti-immigrant sentiment
09:04that is definitely getting up in more prominence,
09:07which is not good.
09:09But as I said, the overall context is very clear,
09:12right from beginning when he won the election,
09:15from the election night speech till the date.
09:17Whatever he talks, he has to balance the balance sheet.
09:20He has to bring down the deficit.
09:22He has to act very conclusively and strictly on the illegal immigrants.
09:28All these measures deter the illegal immigrants.
09:30But unfortunately, the legal immigrants and the Indians in particular,
09:35if they are getting impacted, it is job of ours,
09:37including the Indian diplomatic mission
09:39and people, community leaders like me, Dr. Parai and many others,
09:43that we need to work towards how to bring a fair and just thing
09:46for our Indian immigrants
09:48and not to get caught up with all these bills,
09:50which are putting us on the wrong side of the equation.
09:53Dr. Parai, you want to comment there, sir,
09:54on the anti-immigrant sentiment
09:56when it comes to the legal community as well?
10:00You know, this is kind of very strange.
10:03Trump's wife, she is an immigrant from Slovenia.
10:07Trump's mother, she was an immigrant from Scotland.
10:10His top advisor, Elon Musk,
10:13he is an immigrant from South Africa.
10:15Many of his technical advisors,
10:18they are immigrants from somewhere, somewhere.
10:21So why he is trying to pitch it in?
10:23Now, he is not trying to call it against immigrants
10:26because many of these so-called immigrants
10:28are also U.S. citizens now.
10:31They will say, oh, it does not apply to U.S. citizens.
10:34It only applies to people who have not become U.S. citizens.
10:37So, as I said, this is very ridiculous on his part
10:41because of the very minimal impact,
10:45favorable impact on the budget.
10:47And yes, you are right that it may sort of
10:49form kind of anti-immigrant sentiment.
10:53But really, that is not the case, Gowri.
10:55I have been living in U.S. now for 50 years
10:57and we are part of the society.
11:00There are some white extremists,
11:03but they are very few in number
11:04because most of the Americans,
11:07their life is impacted by people who are here.
11:11For example, doctors,
11:13there is one out of 10 doctors in U.S.A.
11:16is an immigrant from India,
11:18maybe citizen now.
11:20So they do come across people
11:22who are not white-skinned
11:23for their medical care
11:25in the same way in the universities.
11:28So it's not so much of anti-immigrant,
11:30but Trump is trying to use this card
11:32for useless purpose
11:34of generating $2 billion
11:36in a $7.3 trillion budget.
11:39But you are right,
11:39it may sort of,
11:42this may be a work of so-called MAGA Republicans.
11:46That's a small section of Trump supporters
11:48called Make America Great Again
11:50who are sort of considered white extremists.
11:53All right.
11:55Quick closing comments,
11:57Mr. Makwadev,
11:57from you,
11:58very quickly, sir,
11:59if you were to advise anybody
12:01who will be directly impacted by this,
12:03whether the H-1B,
12:04whether the green card holders
12:05who send money back,
12:06what would that advice be?
12:10You don't get upset with,
12:13as you, I think,
12:14somebody has mentioned
12:15about the American dream.
12:16The American dream is still very strong.
12:18There is a great potential
12:19of Indo-America working together,
12:21both on the technology front
12:23and the people-to-people ties.
12:25This type of taxes,
12:26I think there will be,
12:28it will be corrected,
12:29particularly when we talk
12:30with the right folks
12:31on the emotional side of it.
12:33And the people-to-people ties
12:35are going to go further stronger
12:37and Indian and American
12:38should work very closely
12:40because the biggest elephant
12:42in the room is China
12:43and not what we are talking right now.
12:46All right.
12:47We leave it there.
12:48Thank you so much,
12:48Dr. Parai and Mr. Makwadev
12:50for speaking to me
12:51on India Global,
12:53on a story that impacts
12:55almost every Indian
12:56who is in America,
12:57barring a few.
12:59And in fact,
12:59bottom line, viewers,
13:00as far as this story is concerned,
13:02is very simple.
13:03There are very clear
13:04three reasons
13:05why Donald Trump
13:07wants to tax remittances
13:09that a lot of people
13:11that they are going to be sending.
13:12But of course,
13:13we talk about Indians.
13:14The reason for that,
13:15point number one,
13:15he's come up with
13:16a gazillion immigration-related policies.
13:20Someone's got to pay the bill,
13:22whether it's the border wall
13:23that he wants to construct
13:24or whether it's the number
13:25of illegals that he want to deport.
13:27Every single thing costs money
13:29and he needs to short off finances.
13:31This, he thinks,
13:32is probably the easiest way.
13:33Second,
13:34he's trying to very clearly now
13:36fan anti-immigrant sentiment
13:38as a whole in America.
13:40It started with illegal immigrants,
13:42but it's now about
13:43anti-immigrants in general.
13:45No distinction whatsoever.
13:47And the third thing is,
13:49let's not forget,
13:51President Trump
13:52is also trying to ensure
13:53that money doesn't leave America.
13:56When this 5% tax is imposed,
13:58even if 50%,
14:0030% of the people
14:01who send money
14:02decide not to do so,
14:03then that money stays in America,
14:05in the American economy.
14:07And that's his third clear objective.
14:09But the impact of this
14:10would be highly skilled workers
14:12would be impacted.
14:14Something that Ronald Trump
14:15would not like.
14:16More so if he wants
14:17to make America great again.