Indain Express 11.12.2009
‘Civic body will not burden middle class’
The political brass of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Thursday made it clear that it was not in favour of imposing “additional burden” on taxpayers, especially those belonging to the middle- and lower-middle class.
Refusing to support the budget proposal of hiking property tax rates by five per cent across all categories and the introduction of a new professional tax, Mayor Kanwar Sain said the MCD is not in favour of burdening those who are already paying taxes. “The idea is to increase our revenue by increasing taxes charged from malls and 3-star hotels. Their turnover is huge but they are paying a pittance as taxes at present. We also want more people to be brought into the tax net and are working towards it,” Sain said.
“We do not want to burden people belonging to the middle class and lower-middle class. We will make changes in the proposed budget in the coming days,” said the Leader of the MCD House, Subhash Arya.
During the presentation of the municipal budget for the 2010-11 fiscal on Wednesday, MCD Commissioner K S Mehra had proposed a hike in property tax and house tax, besides the introduction of a new discretionary tax called ‘professional tax’ for all residents of the Capital whose monthly income is Rs 30,000 or more.
