Taking cognisance of the major problems that could be faced by the business fraternity due to considerable hike in commercial property tax, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has formed a committee on this issue and ordered suspension of the hike till the same is revised.
If the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun collects the hiked commercial property tax, the businessmen would compensate for it by charging their customers more, which in turn could be detrimental to tourism in Dehradun. Rajpur Road MlA and Parliamentary Secretary Rajkumar said this while addressing the media along with Congress councillors here on Monday.
He said, “If the Municipal Corporation seeks the increased property tax especially on commercial buildings, some of the businessmen will not be in a position to pay the amount. The businessmen would then have to charge more from their customers to meet their financial burden. This will discourage tourists from visiting Dehradun and prove detrimental to the tourism sector in Uttarakhand which has been revived with much effort after being devastated in the 2013 disaster. We met Chief Minister Harish Rawat on December 25 and raised objections to the Corporation charging revised property tax on commercial buildings based on 2012-14 circle rates. The Chief Minister directed the Housing Secretary to form a committee for revising the property tax while ordering that the property tax collection be suspended till revision,” said the MlA.
In his letter to the Chief Minister, Rajkumar also stated, “The BJP is in majority in the MCD Board and would like the Government to issue an order for collection of the hiked commercial property tax. This would politically benefit the BJP but would be detrimental to the Congress.”
leader of Opposition in the MCD, Neenu Sehgal alleged that Congress councillors have to face problems while trying to facilitate developmental works costing up to `5 lakh in their respective wards.