NEW DELHI: You may soon have to pay more tax since the government is considering a proposal to levy a surcharge to fund its ambitious plan of providing free healthcare to every citizen in the country.
The Planning Commission's expert panel has turned down the proposal for a securities transaction tax, and instead voted for a health surcharge on taxable income.The move, it said, would complement the government's budgetary allocation and "obviate the need for user charges on the rich".
Though the panel has not recommended how much surcharge should be levied, a 1% levy would yield over Rs 9,000 crore for this fiscal.
Over the last decade, the government has repeatedly fallen back on the cess-and-surcharge tool for dedicated spending – ranging from picking up the tab for the Kargil conflict to the Gujarat earthquake. In recent years, the ambit has been expanded to include education and highway construction.
Now, the Planning Commission panel wants the government to introduce a national health entitlement card for every citizen that will guarantee free access to a heath package of essential primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare fully funded by the Centre. It talks of covering both in-patient and OPD services.
Plan panel against user charges in public hospitals
Realizing the massive amount of funds required to introduce national health entitlement for every citizen, the Planning Commission's expert panel has called for a hike in public spending on health from about 1.4% of GDP to at least 2.5% by the end of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) and at least 3% by 2020 to achieve objective of healthcare for all.
As against the government's move to impose user charges in public hospitals to raise fund, the panel is strongly against levy of user fees of any kind even from those who can pay at heath facilities that offer national heath package for NHEC card-holders.