Punjab Congress reacted sharply against the misleading statements being issued by the SAD- BJP alliance on the back breaking Property Tax which they had planned to impose on Punjab. In a statement issued by Shri OP Soni, Vice President PPCC said that SAD- BJP is unnecessarily putting the blame on the Center Government, which has now become a habit of the Punjab Government. Instead of putting their facts straight, they are diverting the attention of the people of Punjab by misquoting the factual position and the JNURM guidelines.
Under the garb of these guidelines, the SAD-BJP alliance is planning to impose very heavy Property Tax to fill their empty coffers which is a result of poor financial management of the Government by S. Parkash Singh Badal, Sh Soni Said.
Under the JNURM guidelines, GOI has directed that tax should be imposed on Properties in the ULBs. In Punjab, the tax on properties has already been imposed under the nomenclature of “House tax”. As various states were using different nomenclature for the taxes levied on properties, GOI has given a uniform nomenclature as “Property Tax”. Thus Punjab already complied with levy of the Property Tax condition.
As per guidelines “Reform of property tax with GIS, and arrangements for its effective implementation so as to raise collection efficiency to 85 per cent” . Punjab Govt was required to only change the name of House tax to property tax and do the survey pof areas by GIS system to ensure 95% collection. The Govt of India has nowhere bound the states regarding quantum of the Tax. The SAD- BJP Govt is planning to impose heavy property tax which is much higher than many other states and on the other hand is blaming the Center Govt the same.
Sh OP Soni asked the SAD- BJP alliance to read the mandatory reforms carefully and answer to the people of Punjab, whether GOI has imposed any Quantum of Property tax to be levied? As there is absolutely no quantum imposed under these guidelines, this arbitrary imposition of heavy Property Tax has fully exposed the anti- people government.
The SAD-BJP Govt in the garb of these guidlines has entirely changed the Tax structure formula and is planning to impose heavy Property Tax.
Congress Party demands that the existing name of house tax should be change dto property tax and the formula/existing rate of tax should not be changed to avoid further tax burden on people of Punjab. This will fulfil the guidelines as well.
The notification dated 15th November 2012 issued by GOP for levy of Property tax and the fourth schedule thereto (attached) gives the mechanism of calculation of the Property Tax on various categories. The quantum of tax as per this formula will break the back of common man. Moreover, the formula is very complex, lack transparency and will give too much arbitrary powers to the officer who carries out the evaluation of the property. This will lead to tremendous corruption leading to harassment of the Punjabis.
On perusal of Haryana Governments’ notification dated 28th January 2013 of the property tax ( attached), it can be very seen that the taxation is very low and the calculation is very easy, transparent and leaves no room for arbitrary evaluation.
Sh. OP Soni asked the SAD-BJP government the Govt to give the details of funds allocated to the Municipalities in the last six years under the Federal Finance Commission, State Finance Commission and against 10% Octroi in lieu of abolition of VAT. Instead of giving the legitimate funds to the ULBs, the Government is heavily burdening the people of Punjab through Property Tax to fund the ULBs.
Sh OP Soni said that, Congress party will oppose the levy of the heavy Property Tax in such arbitrary and non transparent and will fight for the rights of the Urban Voters.
