Congress Vice President said that PM Modi should instill confidence in the employees and voters by withdrawing the proposal. (File photo)
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today joined chorus demanding the rollback of employees' provident fund and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the budgetary proposal.
"EPF is the safety net of the employees and imposing a tax on this is wrong. I will urge the Prime Minister to announce... that the tax will be rolled back," Mr Gandhi said.
He said that PM Modi should instill confidence in the employees and voters by withdrawing the proposal.
The total portfolio under the pension and provident fund scheme is estimated to be around Rs 6.5 lakh crore.
Taking a jibe again at the government's proposed amnesty scheme on black money, which was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget for the next fiscal, the Congress Vice President said that the relief should be given to the employees and not to the "thieves."
"I had said yesterday that you (PM Modi) have given the fair and lovely scheme to thieves. (Instead) Our voters and employees should get relief," he added.
Picking on the one-time compliance window announced in the Union Budget as a "Fair and Lovely" scheme, Mr Gandhi had yesterday said this was nothing but a move to turn the black money into white.
"The Finance Minister has announced a new scheme-Fair and Lovely scheme. In this scheme, any thief of the country can convert his black money into white. If anyone indulges in corruption, he can convert his black money into white using the Fair and Lovely scheme," Mr Gandhi had said in Parliament.
Mr Jaitley in his 2016-17 Budget speech had proposed that 60 per cent of withdrawal from contribution to EPF made after April 1 this year will be subjected to tax.
A government press note later said a proposal to tax only interest and not principal is under consideration.