With the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations proposing an increase in property tax this week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday weighed in saying there was no need for the hike.
Final budgets
The Commissioners of the North Delhi and East Delhi Municipal Corporations on Tuesday and Thursday respectively proposed hikes in property tax while presenting their budgets for 2018-2019. While the final budgets of the BJP-ruled corporations are yet to be presented, the opposition led by the Aam Aadmi Party has come out against the proposed hike.
The Chief Minister also opposed the move, tweeting on Thursday: “There is no need to increase house tax in MCD. What is reqd is to reduce corruption. If u remove corruption, u will save so much money that u will be able to actually reduce house tax [sic].”
Financial crisis
The municipal corporations have been undergoing financial crisis for many years now and the decision to hike taxes has been proposed by Commissioners almost every year, only to get rejected in the Standing Committee and House.