The President of the United Federation of Labour, Swasthika Arulingam, has filed a Special Determination Action on behalf of her Union challenging the constitutionality of the Inland Revenue Amendment Bill which was placed in the order paper of Parliament on the 8th August, 2023.
The Petitioner has stated nearly half the account holders of the EPF funds do not even pay taxation while they are earning as some of their salaries are as low as Rs. 21,000. Hence the Parliament has no mandate to pass a legislation which would impose a tax on the same workers on their retirement savings. Such a taxation would be in contrary to Article 12(1) where all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law.
