INDIA bloc MPs protest insurance GST at Parliament
On August 6, INDIA bloc parties staged a protest at the Makar Dwar (Makar Gate) of the new Parliament House to demand the rollback of the 18% goods and services tax (GST) on life insurance and health insurance premiums.
The parties had been demanding this for some time now, the MPs having raised this issue in their speeches in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the debates on the Union Budget.
The parties which participated included All India Trinamool Congress, Indian National Congress, Aam Aadmi Party. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and others.
Holding placards with slogans like ‘Tax terrorism’ and ‘Stop bleeding middle class’, the protesting MPs chanted slogans calling for the GST on life insurance and health insurance premiums to be rolled back.
Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the matter.
Interestingly, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also wrote to the finance minsiter, urging her to consider withdrawing the GST on these items, which, he said, amounted to taxing the uncertainties of life and hindered the growth of the insurance industry.
