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’
This letter was indeed written by Dr. Devi Shetty, but in 2011 when the then Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed to levy a service tax of 5% on the healthcare services provided by hospitals with 25 or more beds with central air conditioning facilities. This letter and the opposition to this bill from various healthcare professionals led the government to withdraw the proposed provision. The 2023-24 union budget also does not contain any provision for service tax on healthcare. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading