Service tax coming soon on healthcare, rail tickets?

New Delhi: If the government has its way, you could soon be paying service tax on your hospital bill, rail tickets, several government services, capitation fee and hiring a marriage hall from municipal agency.
A concept note floated by the finance ministry has proposed to exclude only a handful of services — education, funeral and farming activities from the tax net. The list also includes interest and dividend earned, religious services and betting and gambling. In case of health, the ministry has given two options. One is to exclude all services provided by clinical establishments with turnover under Rs 4 crore from the tax net. So apart from your medical bill you will have to pay service tax, which is 10% of the total amount. The second option is to keep hospitals, diagnostic and para-medical services out of the tax net.