House panel to discuss imposition of tax

The members of the committee are themselves reluctant to impose the tax, with no political party willing to take the blame for the imposition

The decision on the imposition of House Tax that was put on hold due to the code of conduct will once again come up for discussion, with the elections being over. The House Tax committee will be discussing the contentious issue in the coming days.

The members of the committee are themselves reluctant to impose the tax. Every time the issue has come up for discussion, it has been deferred with no political party willing to take the blame for imposing the tax. In fact, the BJP councillors had rejected any proposal for the imposition of tax.

After repeated reminders and pressure from the Centre and the Administration, a proposal was mooted to impose a nominal House Tax and to exempt the houses less than 10 marla as well as the colonies and villages.

The Administration has sent several letters to the MC stating that the MC has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Urban Development for getting financial aid under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. To get regular grants it is mandatory that tax be imposed.

The committee had asked the officials of the MC to get data on the number of houses and the size of these houses in different sectors where tax is to be imposed.

Depending on this, the amount of tax to be imposed will be decided. The committee also has to take a decision on the increase in the tax on commercial property.

A member of the committee said that they had still not received the details of the houses and other information that they had sought from the officials. Once this is received, the decision on the future course of action will be taken.

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