Kathmandu. Former lawmaker Sumana Shrestha urged the government to present the data on how many percent of Nepal earn more than Rs 40 lakh annually.
In the House of Representatives, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle had defended the health and education tax and said that income up to Rs 10 lakh has been exempted for the relief of the middle class. Referring to this statement of Minister Wagle, Shrestha took a dig at the ruling party on social media Facebook and requested the government to make such information public.
“And instead of saying ‘yes, yes, yes’ when it comes to tax rates, let’s ask for the actual data,” she wrote. What percentage of Nepal’s population will actually earn more than 40 lakhs? With that small percentage being exempted from tax, how many jobs will be covered by that tax?
She has also demanded that there should be a provision to calculate the tax once a year while paying the tax deduction in the income tax. He said that in some cases, the government may have to refund the tax to the citizens, while in some cases the citizens may have to pay more to the government.
She disagreed with the government’s attempt to defend her decision by making false arguments and said that it has increased polarization in the society. She said that the tendency to always use the example of extremism while making policies and explaining to the people that the world is a ‘binary digit’ such as ‘0’ or ‘1’ has greatly increased polarization in society. “The narrative that the poor go to government schools and government hospitals, and the rich go to private schools and private hospitals, is wrong, wrong, wrong.
People living in absolute poverty are also forced to go to private hospitals.TAG_OPEN_div_25 They were forced to go there not in search of quality, but because of lack of access to government hospitals and long waits.
Shrestha, who is also the former education minister, questioned the government, “How are the people managing their medical expenses?”TAG_OPEN_div_23 They are making a living not only with their modest savings, but also by borrowing and selling their assets! She suggested those at the policy-making level to look at the schedule of Nepal’s Living Standard Survey.












