Congress protests for withdrawal of EPF tax proposal

New Delhi, March 7: Congress on Monday, staged a protest here seeking immediate reversal of the Centre's proposal to tax 60 per cent of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) at the time of withdrawal and warned of escalating pressure if the demand was not met.

"The move to tax EPF will be a terrible blow to six crore employees covered under the EPF Act... The BJP-led central government is playing with their future. The proposal must be rolled back immediately," Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said at the protest at Jantar Mantar.

Maken said, according to the budget proposal, an employee will have to invest 60 per cent of the PF in annuity "as per wishes of government" if he does not want to pay tax on the amount he receives at the time of retirement. He claimed the move was aimed at helping insurance companies, particularly private ones.

"Salaried people depend on their salaries for their living and on retirement they depend on their EPF savings for their daughter's marriage and for housing, and if tax is levied on EPF, it would be a big blow to salaried class," he said.

The Union budget for 2016-17 proposed taxing 60 per cent of withdrawals from the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) on contributions to be made after April 1, unless the sum is reinvested in pension product such as an annuity.

Referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the one-time compliance window on black money, Maken said Congress workers will "fully" support him in "his fight to protect interests of weaker sections".

"Congress knows how to rule and its workers will also take to streets if the situation demands to protect interests of common people," Maken said. Taking a swipe at the Modi government over the one-time compliance window announced in the Union Budget, Rahul had described it as a "Fair and Lovely" scheme aimed at turning black money into white.

PTI