Congress demands EPF rollback, slams 'Suit-boot Sarkar'

The All India Mahila Congress staged a protest here on Saturday demanding the rollback of the budgetary proposal under which a part of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal will be taxed with 60 percent corpus.

The protestors led by Congress leader Shobha Oza raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre and also burnt effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"This is double taxation. This is injustice to the common man. The government should roll back its proposal. The 'Suit-boot Sarkar' only thinks about the rich and is not concerned about the poor and the downtrodden. It is insensitive towards the thinking of a common man," Oza said.

One of the other protestors said that the budgetary proposal was not in the interest of the common man and that's why they were protesting against this government.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting took place between the officials of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Finance Ministry on March 3 where in EPF tax proposals were discussed.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had proposed a change in rule aiming at reducing litigation and increasing transparency in the Union Budget 2016, is likely to make an official statement in the House outlining the revised proposal.

According to the impositions, only 70 lakh out of 3.70 crore active EPF subscribers will be impacted by the proposed tax change, a rethink has been prompted because of protests from the vocal middle class.

There has also been recognition that the plan to tax EPF is the only major proposal to have attracted significant criticism.