Fact Check: Has the Centre proposed a 5% tax on healthcare in Union Budget 2023?

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has shared a viral claim that the Central government has proposed a 5% tax on healthcare in the Union Budget 2023-24. Taking to Twitter, PIB shared a post featuring the claim that the new proposal of the 'misery tax' will hugely affect the middle class and the poor. 

Part of the said proposal reads that if patients undergo heart surgery, they will be charged between Rs 5,000-10,000 or more and this would exceed to Rs 20,000 due to service tax even if the surgery fails. 

PIB rubbishes claims on healthcare tax

A tweet claims that the central government has proposed a 5% tax on healthcare in the recent #Budget.#PIBFactCheck

▪️ This claim is #Fake.

▪️ The letter attached with the tweet is from year 2011 and is being shared out of context. pic.twitter.com/uojvkR788H

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) February 26, 2023

The PIB has called the claims of healthcare tax fake and clarified that the notification being circulated on Twitter is over a decade old. "A tweet claims that the central government has proposed a 5% tax on healthcare in the recent Budget. This claim is fake," read the tweet by PIB. "The letter attached with the tweet is from year 2011 and is being shared out of context."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on February 1, presented the Union Budget 2023 and allocated Rs 89,155 crore to the health sector, out of which Rs 86,175 crore was allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and Rs 2,980 crore to the department of health research. 

The fake letter was shared by TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jawahar Sircar who demanded the removal of the said tax but later apologised after getting debunked. "PIB takes extreme delight in declaring this tweet as fake without mentioning that it is an old plea made years ago, not relevant now. It was sent to me by several activists, including a very respectable senior retired IAS officer. But since it is not a current letter, I’m sorry," he tweeted. 

PIB takes extreme delight in declaring this tweet as fake without mentioning that it is an old plea made years ago, not relevant now. It was sent to me by several activists, including a very respectable senior retired IAS officer. But since it is not a current letter, I’m sorry. pic.twitter.com/Ib93wXtAFr

— Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) February 26, 2023