Revised taxation method will not burden people, says Botcha

‘The hike will be limited to 15% of the existing rate’

Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Botcha Satyanarayana said that the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) and other party leaders were levelling baseless allegations against the State government regarding the proposed revised method of taxation by civic bodies. He said that revised method was intended to make urban local bodies financially self-sufficient, maintain uniformity and this would not at all burden the public.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Mr. Satyanarayana said that the Opposition parties have been alleging that the State government had brought in the new tax system soon after the municipal elections. But the decision dated back to the pre-election period and was also discussed in the Assembly sessions a few months ago, he said.

The Minister said that the decision was taken after conducting a number of meetings. Committees were formed and several teams of officials have gone to various States to study about the taxes, he said. The positives were reviewed and negatives were addressed and opinions of members of various taxpayer associations were also considered, the Minister said.

“In the new system, the percentage of tax fixed is between 0.10 and 0.50 of the capital value (CV) for residential buildings and it’s between 0.2 and 2 for non-residential buildings. Only ₹50 is levied as property tax for houses below poverty line (BPL) families living in a plinth area of 375 sq.ft,” he said.

The new tax hike would be limited to 15% of the existing rate, he said. “The Opposition is falsely portraying that the State would earn thousands of crores from the new system. But we want to clarify that the State would earn an additional revenue of just ₹186 crore,” he said.

CM’s Delhi tour

Mr. Satyanarayana alleged that the Opposition party was politicising the Delhi visit of the Chief Minister. He said that the tour is only to protect the interests of the State and seek funds. He criticised the TDP leaders for saying that Mr. Jagan had gone to Delhi to get the cases against him quashed. “The Opposition failed to speak on State issues that benefit the public like demanding more vaccines from the Centre. But it has been asking the government to distribute Anandaiah’s herbal concoctions. The State government didn’t hold back any welfare scheme even during the pandemic situation to stand by the people in these hard times,” he added.

Clean Andhra Pradesh

The Minister said that the government would launch Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) programme on July 8, commemorating the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy. He said that the government is expecting to generate some revenue by collecting ₹30 per month from each household for waste collection.