In an open letter written by Dr. Devi Shetty, he called on people to gather at the Governor’s residence of each state with a petition to oppose the recently proposed health care service tax which he labels as a ‘Misery tax’
On February 25, Trinamool Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar shared an open letter by Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Hridayalaya where he had called service tax on healthcare ‘misery tax’. Sircar wrote in the post, "Agree fully with Dr Devi Shetty that Modi-Nirmala’s service tax on health services will devastate the middle class and poor. Withdraw this tax!" In the letter published as an advertisement in the newspapers, Dr Devi Shetty opposed a proposed service tax of 5 per cent on healthcare in the budget. Calling it a ‘misery tax’, Dr Shetty had called people to assemble at the Governor’s house of each state at 11 AM on March 12 with a petition to roll back the tax. [...] To summarise, a service tax on Healthcare was proposed by FM Mukherjee in the 2011 budget. After backlash, it was withdrawn by the government. The post that Sircar shared has the clipping of an open letter Dr Shetty wrote in 2011. Thus, Sircar’s post is misleading.