Coming out against the Centre’s ’Swachh Bharat’ cess, CPI(M) today said the levy will pinch the pockets of the already “broken” common man and demanded that the government announce how much money was spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promotion of the initiative.

“We want the government to tell the country and Parliament how much money was spent on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan advertisements featuring the Prime Minister. You spend that much money on the campaign and then collect money from people to finance that campaign.

“At that time it was announced that it will be part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which has now turned out to be the people’s burden,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.

Yechury also took to Twitter as he questioned the government for introducing the additional levy and said that Centre should impose a cess on corporates instead as the escalating prices of pulses, vegetables and fuel have already broken the back of the common man.

High prices of dal, vegetables, petrol/ diesel have already broken the back of common man. Impose the cess on corporates whom you are backing to the hilt, while starving the poor.

“They certainly owe you the crores that you spend on self- projection. Why should public pay for your campaigns, photo-ops and hype? As the PM jet-sets around the world, common man is fleeced for traveling by train too from now on.

#NotCleanAtAll,” he said in a series of posts on the micro-blogging website.

A ‘Swachh Bharat Cess’ of 0.5 per cent came into effect today for all services which are presently liable to pay Service Tax. This translates into a tax of 50p on every Rs 100-worth of taxable services.

The ministry, however, clarified that the Swachh Bharat cess will not apply to those services for which payments have been received prior to November 15 and invoices raised before November 29.

It would mean that railway and flight tickets booked before November 15 will not attract the additional levy.

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