The State Budget has proposed to double the rates of building and luxury taxes as part of efforts to mobilise additional revenue.
The Budget for 2014-15, presented by Finance Minister K.M. Mani in the Assembly on Friday, said the building tax was being revised after 17 years and doubling the rate was expected to earn Rs.70 crore. To help farmers, residential buildings with an area of 1,00 sq.m and other buildings up to 50 sq.m would be exempted from building tax. Buildings housing cattle-rearing units, poultry units and piggeries would also be exempted.
Registration
The Budget has proposed to increase the fair value of land. Since the fair value fixed eight years ago was much less than the market prices, the rules would be amended to increase it. The monthly income schemes similar to chit funds being conducted by cooperative banks and societies would be brought under the purview of the Kerala Stamp Act. A stamp duty of Rs.100 per person would be levied on all agreements made between banks and societies with investors. The stamp duty rates for all sale deeds registered in the panchayat, municipality and corporation limits would be unified at 5 per cent, 6 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.
A stamp of duty of Rs. 50 will be levied on the memorandum of association and rules and regulations of charitable societies. The annual stamp duty for the agreements made by banks and companies with landowners for setting up automatic teller machines and mobile towers and for renewing the agreements have been fixed at Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 5,000, respectively. The stamp duty for the registration of chit funds and kuries has been increased from Rs. 25 per Rs.1,000 to Rs. 50 per Rs.1,000.
The stamp duty for registration of companies with paid-up capital up to Rs.10 lakh has been fixed at Rs. 2,000, from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh at Rs. 5,000 and above Rs. 25 lakh at 0.5 per cent of the capital. It has been proposed to increase the sale limit of stamp papers by licensed vendors from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1 lakh and revise the discount rate rationally. All these proposals are expected to yield additional revenue of Rs.100 crore. Lottery The income from lotteries in 2014-15 is expected to increase from Rs. 3,750 crore in the current year to Rs. 5,500 crore in the next financial year. The face value of the four weekly lottery tickets will be increased from Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 and that of two weekly lotteries from Rs. 40 to Rs. 50. A revision in the prize structure has been proposed. The net revenue from one more weekly lottery will be set apart for the Karunya Benevolent Fund.
