No service tax, please: Hospitality's plea to FM

After the healthcare sector, now the hospitality sector is trying to get the fm to reverse the 10% service tax that was introduced in the budget. Veterans from the industry argue the hospitality sector is still recovering from the global meltdown and 26/11..and that this sector should be incentivised.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Jyotsna Suri, CMD of Bharat Hotels and chairperson of the FICCI Tourism Committee said, India is already the highest tax paying for the industry."It's the taxation that actually makes the destination more expensive, not the tariff." Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the video. Q: The Finance Ministry can easily argue with you that hotels like yours anyway have very high room tariffs and therefore your customers will not mind paying 10% additional tax. Why would this new levy hurt the hospitality sector as is your fear and apprehension?
A: That's not true at all because as a destination, India is already the highest tax paying for the industry. We are closed to 34% to 37% tax including these 10% and when we compare ourselves with our neighboring countries