Decision to levy commercial tax by civic bodies deferred

Tribune News Service

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Dehradun, December 28

The decision to levy commercial tax by the municipal corporations in Uttarakhand has been deferred.

Parliamentary Secretary Rajkumar today said a committee had been constituted to look into the matter.

Rajkumar, also a Congress MLA, said he had met Chief Minister Harish Rawat in this regard on December 25.

“We urged the Chief Minister to defer the imposition of commercial tax till Uttarakhand has its own Municipal Act. The Chief Minister agreed to defer the decision and said a committee headed by the Additional Secretary, Department of Urban Development, will look into the matter,” he added.

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation has decided to levy commercial tax on all commercial enterprises based on the formula that takes into account the constructed area and the prevailing circle rate in 2014, which the business men are opposing.

“We have been badly affected by the downturn in tourism after the 2013 floods.The new taxes will hit us badly,” said Neenu Saigal, leader of the opposition in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation.

He said commercial enterprise owners were ready to pay the nominal 12 per cent tax that had been levied in the past. “Such steep hike in tax will not be in the interest of small business enterprises,” he added.

Attempts by the DMC to increase its income by revising commercial tax has not found favour with businessmen. During a recent survey by the Department of Urban Development, several hotels and shopping malls were found to be paying taxes that were too less, as these were based on old rates.