The editorial, "Provident budgeting" (March 2) is biased, as it does not touch upon a key point - that not all employees' contribution to the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is compulsory. A large section of employees have to contribute and get locked in even as there are other options available for them to invest their money in. The government should first make EPF voluntary and then align taxation to other pension products.
This apart, a notification issued by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) last month implies that a worker, who loses his job or starts his own venture or joins a firm that is outside the ambit of the EPFO, would not be able to withdraw 50 per cent of the corpus and would not earn any interest when he retires at 58. This is because current rules stipulate that the account has to be treated as dormant after three years.
Opposition to EPF taxation is not akin to crying because a freebie is being taken away, as the editorial seems to put it. All the salaried class is asking for is fair taxation: Allow people to withdraw the corpus they have now, make EPF voluntary and then create new taxation rules.
Anil Kumar, Kamalapuram
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