Kerala’s CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF is planning to launch an intense agitation against the massive hike in taxes, water tariff and Government service fees announced by the Congress-headed UDF Government the other day, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Urging the people not to pay the hiked taxes, tariff and fees, Pinarayi said in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday that the left was thinking of launching a stir which would include refusal to pay increased taxes. “We will refuse to pay the increased tax on land and the hiked water tariff,” he said.
Pinarayi questioned the rationale behind the argument that the Government was forced to hike taxes as the revenues from liquor trade was ending in the context of the new liquor policy envisaging total booze ban. “That argument doesn’t hold water. The revenue from liquor has actually gone up,” Pinarayi said.
Faced with one of the worst financial crises Kerala has ever witnessed, the UDF Government had the other day announced steep hike in taxes on land and in other sectors, water tariff and service fees. Despite the new liquor policy, the Government also hiked tax on liquor by 20 percent. The upward revisions are expected to bring in additional revenues of Rs 2049 crore to the Exchequer.
“The UDF Government is trying to impose the burden of its inefficiency on the people. The Government, which is unable to collect the huge tax arrears, is squeezing the common man,” Pinarayi said while demanding a White Paper on the State’s financial condition. He also criticized the Government for hiking taxes without the consent of the State Assembly.
“There is no precedent in Kerala of imposing additional taxes by bypassing the Budget and Assembly. Taxes cannot be hiked without discussions in the House. The Government should clarify the situation that had led to the present financial crisis. In less than four years, the UDF regime has imposed a burden of about Rs 7,000 crore on the people,” Pinarayi alleged.
Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said that the people need not pay taxes that had been imposed on them without the Assembly’s approval. He said in Kannur that the Assembly should be convened urgently to discuss the developments. “The Government is challenging the people. Intense agitations will come up against this,” he warned.
Criticizing the CPI(M) plan for a stir against the tax hike, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that people should be boycotting the CPI(M) and not the taxes. “Which tax is the left going to boycottIJ The tax on liquor or tobacco productsIJ The people will see through their hypocrisy,” Chandy said.