New cess may be levied to fund healthcare

New Delhi: 16th August 2011

You may soon have to pay more tax since the government is considering a proposal to levy a surcharge to fund its ambitious plan of providing free healthcare to every citizen in the country. The Planning Commission’s expert panel has turned down the proposal for a securities transaction tax, and instead voted for a health surcharge on taxable income. The move, it said, would complement the government’s budgetary allocation and “obviate the need for user charges on the rich”. Though the panel has not recommended how much surcharge should be levied, a 1% levy would yield over Rs 9,000 crore for this fiscal.

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