PMO seeks details of revenue collected by Kolkata civic body after note ban
KOLKATA: Acting under instructions from the prime minister’s office (PMO), Income Tax officials met the top brass of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday and sought details of the revenue the civic body has generated through property tax post demonetisation, triggering angry reactions from chief minister Mamata Banerjee. who is already organising support against the prime minister’s move to ban `500 and `1,000 notes.
Sources said the PMO also sought details of tax revenue earnedbytheKMCfromNovember 2015 to November 2016. The under secretary of municipal department has received a letter from the Centre in this regard to ensure the information reaches them.
This development created a flutter in the secretariat and chief minister Mamata Banerjee termed it as ‘undue interference’ of the Centre in state affairs. “The PMO cannot do it. They are trying to loot the money of the people. We will not allow it,” she alleged at the state secretariat.
It may add another page to the continuing chapter of confrontation between the Bengal chief minister and the Centre on a number of issues over the past few months, demonetisation triggering just the latest round of acrimony.
The KMC’s decision to accept property taxes with old `500 and `1,000 notes after the demonetisation proved to be a major boon for the body that is constantly struggling to extract payment of unpaid property tax from the citizens.
The civic body collected `40 crores till Thursday from the day of the announcement of demonetisation on November 8 that is .
“The IT officers want us share the amount of the revenue and details of the tax payers who have paid a high amount. We have informed them that several people have cleared their long pending taxes with the old notes after demonetisation,” said a KMC official.
Officers from tax department claimed property tax collection reached a record high on November 16 when they collected more than `8 crore, the major share of it being `500 and `1,000.
“In 2011, KMC had collected a hugeamountof `6croreonasingle day through revenue tax. Subrata Mukherjee was the mayor and he waived off a considerable amount of fine taxes that was due for years. Infact,evennow,throughthismove we have collected a lot of long pending dues,” a KMC official added.
In fact, KMC officials adopted a few steps to facilitate the tax payers during this period. At the cash counters, they are keeping notes of smaller denominations to give changes. They have also extended the closure hours of cash windows from 2 pm to 8 pm.
Normally, KMC accepts tax through demand drafts and cash. Current bills can also be paid online. The civic body stopped accepting cheque payments after thousands of cheques bounced a few years ago.