Service tax raised from 10 percent to 12 percent

Most services will become costlier as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday proposed to raise the service tax to 12 percent from the existing 10 percent.

“I propose to raise the service tax from 10 percent to 12 percent,” Mukherjee said while presenting Union Budget for 2012-13.

The finance minister said a few essential services such as education will be exempted from the service tax.

“I propose to tax all the services except those in the negative list,” he said.