Government has found out Alibaba’s treasure in the form of Service Tax and it seems as if it is trying to bring each and every service under its purview. And the Govt is leaving no stone unturned to find a likely taxable service to increase its revenue kitty.

Words are doing rounds that the railways may be brought under the purview of service tax in the coming Budget. I was surpirsed and shocked when I was told that the finance ministry is considering a proposal to impose service tax on passenger fares in this Budget.

This move can make the government richer by over Rs 1,000 crore per annum. But is it justified in imposing such a tax on the Raliways passenger fare in a country like India where lakhs of poor people depend on Railways as a mode of transport.

Also the Government has imposed service tax on the construction industry and on the real estate developers too.

Popularity: 1% [?]