M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 18: Holding tax on circle rate is now being opposed by Mayor Aruna Shankar and Deputy Mayor Mangal Singh of the Medinirai Municipal Corporation along with the councillors.
On Wednesday, the mayor and deputy mayor held a press briefing wherein more than a dozen councillors expressed solidarity with them over the issue of holding tax on the circle rate.
According to deputy mayor Mangal Singh, the Medinirai Municipal Corporation is opposed to the holding tax on the circle rate.
“This is arbitrary and atrocious on the part of the state government to tag holding tax to the circle rate as circle rate is revised every two years and by this account holding tax will be spiralling up every two years,” said the deputy mayor.
Mangal Singh said the after-effect of Covid on the economy of the people has not yet subsided and now this hike to the holding tax is anti-people and will affect the day to day economy of the middle class holding taxpayers.
Deputy mayor said the mayor Aruna Shankar and councillors have a uniformity of thought to oppose this holding tax on circle rate. “Our municipal corporation would be pleading with the state government to roll back this provision of holding tax on the circle rate,” he said.
He made it clear that they are not asking any taxpayer not to pay the tax by June end as it offers a 5 percent rebate. They are free to choose their course of action.
There are around 35, 000 households in the Medininagar Municipal Corporation, according to the city manager Samita Bhagat. However, around 45 percent of these households do not pay holding taxes.
