To woo the voters in connection with the ensuing assembly elections, the BJP-ruled State government has directed all Municipal Corporations to write off penalties of wealth tax and water cess amounting upto Rs 50,000.
This would be a huge fiscal blow to the Corporations that are already burdened with acute shortage of funds.
The directive that reached the Corporation office states that all penalties amounting up to Rs 5000 must be written off. Along with this the civic body has also been asked to forego the increase of Rs 10 in the water bill. The move by the state government is seen as a step to appease the voters.
Sources in the Corporation said that this order is going to affect their recovery target in a big way. The civic body will fall short in achieving the target of wealth tax and water tax. Along with this the recovery target too will be affected in a big way.
Earlier, the state government had decided to resolve the pending cases related to wealth tax and water cess through lok Adalat. The lok Adalat will write off all penalties amounting to Rs 50000. Accordingly, instructions have been sent to all Municipal Corporations. This year’s lok Adalat will be held on the December 9.
The directive also states that where the wealth tax penalties are between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh, the debtor must be given a rebate of 75 per cent and 25 per cent for amounts above 1 lakh. As far as the water cess is concerned, it is 100 per cent discount for amounts up to Rs 10,000, 75 per cent for amounts ranging from Rs 10000 to Rs 50000 and 50 per cent for amounts above Rs 50,000.
The government directive also states that only the defaulters for the fiscal year 2016-2017 will be eligible for this rebate.
The defaulter can avail this discount only once and whoever avails it must pay the full amount in two installments.
Fifty per cent of the amount must be deposited at the lok Adalat itself.