Tax on EPF insensitive, govt has to roll it back: Veerapa Moily

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government, former petroleum minister Verrapa Moily on Tuesday said the Centre had no choice but to rollback tax on the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) as it was an insensitive inclusion in the Union Budget.

"Today they took a decision because the entire country was against it. The Congress had earlier raised the issue and protested against it, following which the entire country rallied saying that it was a retrograde decision," said Moily.

"The inclusion of such a tax in the budget was an insensitive act by the NDA government. This was the minimum social benefit given to a common man. This reflects the negative mindset of the government against the aspect of social security," he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of the proposed tax on the EPF, which was proposed in the Union Budget on February 29.

As per the announcement made by Jaitley in the Lok Sabha, the common man is liable for no tax on withdrawal from EPF and other superannuation funds.

In the recent budget, the government has proposed that withdrawal in excess of 40 percent of the accumulated corpus will be taxed.

The Finance Minister made it clear that the aim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is to create an insured India and presumptive taxes will benefit the small and medium taxpayers.

In his post-Budget 2016-17 interaction with industry chambers, Jaitley had pointed that the revenue department is doing an important job to make sure that people comply.