Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

CPI(M) against move to hike property tax

Staff Reporter

`Citizens already paying heavy amounts'

VIJAYAWADA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) appealed to the Congress and the CPI to withdraw their proposal to enhance the property tax by 10 per cent to increase the revenue of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) in the ensuing budget.

CPI(M) floor leader in the VMC general body Ch. Babu Rao, addressing a press conference here on Friday, said that the citizens of Vijayawada were already paying heavy amounts towards property tax.

The per capita average property tax being paid by tax assesees in other municipal corporations was much lower than what citizens here were paying, he said.

Providing statistics, he said, in Visakhapatnam the per capital average tax collected was Rs. 241.18 per annum, in Guntur Rs. 260.55, Kurnool - Rs. 261.96 and Warangal - Rs.200.05 - compared to Rs. 332.52 collected in Vijayawada. The municipal corporation had increased property tax several times in the recent past, he alleged.

Property tax was increased from Rs. 26 crores to Rs. 32 crores when zonal system was introduced a few years ago.

Additional burden

The proposed 10 per cent increase would put an additional burden of Rs. 5 crores on the 1.50-lakh assessees in the city, he said.

He urged the Congress and CPI to reconsider their decision in the recent standing committee meeting and withdraw the proposal from the budget, slated for March 29.

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