Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 10: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCC&I) today said the people of J&K were not in a position to pay the Property Tax-the notification of which was recently put out by the Government-and that the economic scenario of the UT is not conducive for “overloading” the people with taxes.
KCC&I in a statement issued here said that its Executive Committee has concluded that the people in general and the trade community, in particular, are “not in a position” to bear any sort of burden of Property Tax for the time being.
“It needs to be appreciated that besides geographical hurdles the erstwhile state of J&K has been facing odds and uncertainties for decades that have led to its poor economic growth as has also often been recently stated publicly by the Lieutenant Governor of the UT. Again the economy of the erstwhile state has been on a rumble over the past more than 30 years; first due to turmoil and of late for the effects of ravaging floods of 2014 and Covid and such other situations soon thereafter,” KCC&I said.
The trade body said that the economy of UT is settling back on track to normalcy, where, KCC&I said, it deserves material support to sustain rather than the imposition of taxes.
“Thus it is not well placed for the people to bear any additional burden which could add to the miseries and lead to their unrest. Needless to mention here tax on the property was tried to be imposed in the past also but had had to be withdrawn for obvious reasons.”
The KCC&I has appealed to the LG-led Administration that the Property Tax notified to be imposed be shelved for now at least until the economy of the UT recovers fully.
“It also needs mention here that the economic status of the UT cannot be measured with the yardstick applied in its neighbouring states/UT like Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. In future when the economy stabilizes the imposition of property Tax/ other Taxes could be discussed,” KCC&I said.
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