Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia termed claim made by Opposition parties, including the BJP and the Congress, that only Parliament is authorised to waive house tax in Delhi, and not the MCDs, as "false." The MCDs are capable of waiving the house tax, Sisodia said Wednesday.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had announced last week that if it is voted to power in the Municipal elections, it would waive residential house tax and also waive pending arrears to the same.
"After this announcement was made, leaders of the BJP and the Congress have begun to mislead the people of Delhi on this issue. They claimed that only Parliament is authorised to waive house tax in Delhi, and not the MCDs. This claim is false and is being made with the sole intent of cheating Delhi's people," said Sisodia.
While addressing a Press conference on Wednesday, he said, "last year on August 24, the BJP Mayor of North MCD waived the residential house tax of a haveli owned by Union Minister Vijay Goel. This was done under Rule 177 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act (1957), which allows the Municipal bodies to waive any tax that the MCDs decide does not need to be levied. If this rule can be used to provide direct benefit to Union Ministers of the BJP, then why can this rule not be applied to provide benefit to common citizensIJ"
Sisodia accused the BJP of "hypocrisy" for acting against the idea of waiving house tax and said the party is against the interests of the people.
He said the AAP had made the promise only after "sufficient thought and study."
"House tax collection has turned into nothing but a means of extracting bribes from people. People are being harassed by the MCDs under the name of House Tax. There are several other sources of revenue which the MCDs can tap into, even if House tax is waived."
He said, however, the initiative of waiving the house tax would lead to BJP and Congress councillors "losing their source of income which is why they are trying to obfuscate the issue by claiming only Parliament is empowered to waive House taxes."
"The Delhi Government has demonstrated that there is no shortage of funds in the system, if corruption can be eliminated. The MCDs too will not face any paucity of funds if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power and in fact, honest governance will ensure that money is saved in such a way that citizens would have to pay the least taxes possible without compromising on the quality of service delivery," Sisodia who also holds the Finance Portfolio stressed.