Rahul Gandhi claims credit for EPF rollback, says my pressure worked

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi claimed that it was his pressure that forced the government to roll back the proposal to tax employees provident fund ( EPF) withdrawals.

"My pressure worked...I had warned the government against suppressing the salaried class. It is a good decision," Gandhi told reporters after finance minister Arun Jaitley withdrew government's plan to tax EPF withdrawals.

"I felt middle-class people were being hurt by the government, so I decided to put some pressure. Happy that they've got some relief," said the Congress vice president.

Facing a strong backlash from salaried tax payers over its proposal to tax withdrawal from EPF, the government has decided to roll back the budget proposal that sought to create a pensioned society by discouraging full withdrawal.

“In view of the representation received, the government would like to do a comprehensive review of this proposal and therefore I withdraw this proposal,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.

The 40% rebate proposed for the NPS will however continue. NPS is at present fully taxed on withdrawal. This is a relief for NPS subscribers.

The proposal had come under fire from all quarters and government ministers have been flooded on social media to withdraw the proposed tax.

A day after the budget government had even issued a statement clarifying the intent behind the proposal and its intent and its limited impact, but the criticism continued prompting the government to withdraw the tax.

with ET Bureau inputs