Mayor says hike in house tax not her doing alone

Allahabad: Calling it a unanimous decision of corporators in the sadan meeting, Mayor Abhilasha Gupta washed her hands of the hike in commercial house tax.
Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, she said sadan meeting was convened on January 6 this year and a resolution was also passed for imposition of tax on commercial buildings in which majority of the corporators gave their consent.
In addition to this, imposition of tax on commercial buildings was also passed by the executive council. About 18,000 buildings were brought in the ambit of commercial/semi-commercial buildings.
She said each corporator was given a list of commercial/semi-commercial buildings of their respective areas so they could verify whether the tax imposed on the buildings was correct or incorrect. However, none of the corporators objected to the imposition of house tax on the commercial/semi commercial buildings within the given time frame, she said.
She said, "My role as a mayor is of a presiding officer in the sadan and the decision is taken through majority. I do not have any financial power."
She also castigated some corporators who are blaming mayor and the municipal commissioner for the hike in commercial house tax.
She added that the hike in commercial house tax was made in accordance with the Property Tax Rulings (Second Amendment) 2013 passed by the State legislature (Vidhan Sabha) which embodies urban municipal corporations for hiking of tax on business establishments, including commercial complex, hotels, nursing homes and other items.
She said the state government is willing to effect changes in the Property Tax Rulings and reducing the burden on the people. In this context, she has also met state urban development Mminister Azam Khan in March.