Representatives of various political and civil society organisations strongly opposed the proposed new taxation policy at a meeting conducted by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to seek public opinion on the issue.
The meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) D. Venkata Lakshmi was attended by Telugu Desam Party corporators led by floor leader N. Balaswamy, CPI(M) and CPI leaders Donepudi Shankar, Donepudi Kasinath and several others representing Tax Payers Association, Chamber of Commerce, hotel owners, film exhibitors and residential welfare associations.
‘90 days time needed’
Opposing the proposed tax regime, Tax Payers Association (TPA) president V. Sambireddy and secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu sought more time to submit representations.
In a letter to the VMC Commissioner, TPA sought at least 90 days for the public to register their opinions with the civic body. They also sought the facility to send objections and suggestions via email and asked the civic body to issue an acknowledgement. Mr. Anjaneyulu said that there were over 2 lakh assessments in the city and one month to submit objections was not enough.
Mayor, media absent
Participants also protested the absence of the Mayor and the Commissioner, and the media, which was not allowed to witness the proceedings of the meeting.
The VMC in a release said that 140 objections and suggestions had been submitted by the participants of the meeting and the same would be presented before the VMC council and the State government.
As per the proposed taxation, the value of a property will be considered as the base factor to calculate the property tax. The new system has been taken up by the State government as per the guidelines of the Central government. As of Saturday, the last date to submit objections and suggestions to the VMC is July 5.
Waiver of taxes
Meanwhile, CPI(M) senior leader Ch. Babu Rao said that all the participants had taken a unanimous decision to mount pressure on the civic body for waiver of taxes imposed on residential and commercial properties during the COVID lockdown period.
