The government today clarified that the proposed 2% health cess for the poor won't be an additional burden on the tax payers, but a levy on the central taxes."There has been a perception that the proposed health cess for the poor, would be an additional surcharge. However, we want to clarify this to the people that this 2% would be charged on the central duty itself," says, ministry of chemicals and petrochemicals deputy secretary, G S Sandhu.Citing an example, he said, "If there is excise duty of 16%, the 2% will be of this figure, which comes to 0.32%. So the total central excise including the 2% would only be 16.32%, not 18%, as perceived earlier."Union minister for fertilisers, chemicals and steel Ram Vilas Paswan also clarified the same and said that no additional burden would be passed on to the tax payers while charging the cess.The government intends to collect around Rs 6,000 crore annually from this cess, which would be majorly used for health schemes for the families living below poverty line.Sandhu also said that the ministry was confident of achieving the target in the next fiscal after the proposal is approved by the government in the coming budget.
