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| Property Tax Board bill passed; entire opposition stages walkout terming it anti-people, draconian | | Municipal, municipal corporation Acts also amended | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Mar 31: While legislative assembly today passed a bill to set up a Property Tax Board in the state, entire opposition, which wanted certain amendments to be incorporated in it and its deferment till then, staged a walkout amid noisy scenes, terming it "anti-people and draconian".
A bill to further amend the Municipal Act and Municipal Corporation Act of 2000, was also passed.
The two bills were moved in the House by Nasir Aslam Wani -- minister of state for housing and urban development. The amendments moved by Basharat Ahmed Bukhari and Zulfikar Ali were rejected by the House when put to vote.
Speaking to scribes later, deputy chief minister Tara Chand, who holds the charge of housing and urban development ministry, said no new taxes had been imposed on properties and the amendments were aimed at benefitting poor and easing tax structure.He said the bills were passed as the government wanted to bring transparency and rationalise tax structure to help poor and improve sanitation and other municipal services in cities and towns. Tax slabs had, in fact, been reduced to benefit urban poor, Tara Chand added.
He said tax on commercial property would now be up to 10 per cent, while on residential property, it would be 4 per cent as against 15 per cent of the rateable value under the corporation Act of 2000.
Lands up to 10 marlas and residential construction on them was exempted from the tax, he informed.
In municipal committees, a maximum of 3 per cent tax would be imposed on commercial properties, while residential properties were fully exempted.
In municipal councils, a tax of 7 per cent would be charged from commercial properties and 3 per cent from residential properties.He said under the municipal Act of 2000, taxes up to 10 per cent were chargeable in municipal committees.
He said residential properties up to 12 marlas had been exempted by the new amendment in municipal committees.Due to the amendments, BPL, agriculture land, hospitals, educationalinstitutions, widows, divorcees and disabled persons had also been exempted from tax.While 20 per cent of municipal funds had been earmarked for basic services to urban poor within municipal limits, a provision was also kept for area sabhas and ward committees to encourage community participation at grass-root level, he added.
Nasir Aslam said the amendments were brought about as part of reforms to ensure smooth flow of funds under JNURM and other centrally sponsored schemes. The Acts would be implemented after municipal polls, he informed.
He said the amendments had been brought on the basis of reports of select committee of which a PDP legislator was also a member. The opposition staged a walkout because it was bereft of genuine issues, he asserted.
Earlier, taking part in discussion, Zulfikar Ali said the bill could not be passed in its present form. "If someone owns a Rs 10 cr house, but does not have any source of income now, he will also have to pay tax because he owns a big bungalow," he said and added, "It will be an injustice."
Nazir Ahmad Gurezi said since tourism had been badly affected in Kashmir, a hotlier might have to pay Rs 5 lakh as annual property tax against his earnings of Rs 2 lakh per year.
He said when the bill was sent to the House Select Committee, only three members had signed it out of seven. It ought to be deferred and introduced in the House with certain amendments, he demanded.
Harsh Dev said if the government withdrew the bill, it would cause it a negligible loss, but its passing was likely to cause a substantial loss to the people.
He said there should be no tax on residential property, while opposing nomination culture in ward committees, saying it would lead to confusion and fight in wards.Though Mustafa Kamaal favoured the bills, he said tax should be charged from a man according to his paying capacity.Nizamudin Bhat said any law had necessarily to be people-friendly. The bill was flawed because it did not define taxable property, he added.
"It is a sweeping Act in the manner that no application of mind is made while preparing it," he felt.
Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari said new municipal taxes would be a burden on the people as they were already paying several other taxes.
He demanded the formation of a new select committee to discuss the bill afresh.Vikar Rasool, Peerzada Mansoor, Chaman Lal Gupta and Abdul Rehman Veeri also took part in the discussion.When the assembly passed the bill despite their opposition to it, entire opposition walked out of the House in protest. —Early Times Report |
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