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Geeta Chopra of Pennsylvania invested in a franchise business, hiring 35 persons, after Donald Trump became president, and recently added a real estate business to her portfolio. She says: “I was able to do all this because of the tax cuts and deregulation that Trump administration offered.”
Geeta is also a TV presenter and writer, and she believes that all the gains will be wiped out if Biden becomes US President.
On the other coast, Nitesh Bhagwanani started with a grocery store enterprise and over the last 2 years, has become the owner of multiple gas stations in Yakima city of Washington state. He attributes some of his success to conducive tax policies. There is Trump signage and flags around Yakima, but Nitesh plans to not vote.
He says, “I have left it to kismet. Morally, it is right to go for Democrats... Trump is unethical, but for ‘lalach’ (greed), we are not being able to go against him, because he tempts us. I fight with myself for this, to rise above.”
Indian Americans are generally fiscally conservative and the current election is becoming a choice between conserving their hard-earned money versus voting for progressive issues – like climate action, race relations and gender equity.
Considered the model immigrant community, median per capita income of the 4 million Indian Americans is upwards of $100K, highest among immigrants.
The 2016 National Asian American Survey, directed by Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor at the School of Public Policy at UC Riverside, showed that 77 percent of Indian Americans voted for former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
About 80 percent of Indian Americans view President Trump unfavourably, according to the survey, which was conducted shortly after the 8 November 2016 general election.
The trend in 2020 is expected to be similar, except a slight shift in the base, thanks to being courted by President Trump in rallies and ads, the Trump-Modi friendship display and for many, the Biden Tax Plan.
Biden proposes to raise the individual tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent on income above $400k, and raise the top capital-gains tax rate. Biden also plans to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. The annual $400k limit applies to 1.8 percent of families, which are expected to earn 24.8 percent of the income in 2021.
These changes will affect numerous wealthy Indian American families who are in the top tax bracket. Director of Global Studies at Temple University, and the author of ‘The Other 1 percent - Indians in America’, Dr Sanjoy Chakravorty says: “Income of the top 1 percent of Indian Americans is likely to be very high, but probably not very different from that of the top 1 percent of the general American population. The wealth or net worth of this stratosphere is almost impossible to determine anyway, for Indians or the general population.”
Dr Sangay Mishra of Drew University, author of ‘Desis Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans’, acknowledges that some in the Indian community might be feeling torn by economics versus ideology conflict.
Indian Americans desire political stability and would like to see aggressive white nationalistic politics go away. But, a small layer might have a conflict for economic reasons.
Most Indian Americans interviewed for this story said they will vote for Biden because they perceive democracy and American institutions as being threatened. They want better race relations, gender equality, climate action, humane immigrant policies, and less polarisation.
Harini Krishnan, a Democratic Organiser based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Co State Director at ‘South Asians for Biden’, was a lead volunteer organiser for the Kamala Harris campaign in California.
She has got to know Kamala and her extended family really well in the process. We spoke with her about some Indian Americans, who seem to be sitting on the fence in this election cycle.
She has organised fundraisers for numerous Democrats and Senate races.
Silicon Valley is home to many Indian success stories, and affluence brings the means and will to participate in the political process.
Another Valley-based passionate Democrat, venture capitalist and Chief Strategy Officer of Lyft, Rajil Kapoor believes:
Not all ‘elite’ Indian Americans in the Valley are democrats.
Vish Mishra, a venture capitalist, of TiECON fame, is a Republican. Considered among the most successful Indians, he has been in the US for more than 50 years. He does not identify with the fringe Right or the fringe Left and believes that heavy taxes reduce disposable income, and shrink the economy.
When asked why there is not enough Trump signage around the Valley, Mishra remarked that the ‘other party’ has become very belligerent, and people get targeted if you display a flag.
He adds, “You don’t display your religion on your sleeve.”
Religion has been introduced in the fray this time for Indian Americans. Some Hindus in the US will vote for Trump this November, like second generation Rakhi Israni of Fremont, a proud Hindu, who felt emotionally overwhelmed at the 2017 ‘Howdy Modi’ event.
Even though, she says, that saving taxes is a very short-sighted way of looking at it, there are many Indian American voters for whom that will be a determining factor.
Some Indians we spoke with, wished to remain un-named for this feature.
We also spoke with a founder of a Silicon Valley company, worth more than $100m, with offices in many cities and continents, who will vote for Trump, only because of better tax policies. He wants to remain anonymous.
Financial advisors in the Valley are busy these days, as their clients need help restructuring portfolios and savings, in anticipation of a change in the White House, and the tax implications that will bring. While Biden is ahead of Trump in recent polls, their ratings on economic issues have been similar.
(Savita Patel is a senior journalist and producer, who produced ‘Worldview India’, a weekly international affairs show, and produced ‘Across Seven Seas’, a diaspora show, both with World Report, aired on DD. She has also covered stories for Voice of America TV from California. She’s currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
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