Jharkhand government assures Assembly to review holding tax hike

The Jharkhand government today assured the Assembly to reconsider the hike in holding tax. Replying to a question of MLA Saryu Roy in the house, the Minister-in-Charge Satyanand Bhokta said that he would discuss the matter with the chief minister and accordingly the government would reconsider it.

Earlier, Roy pointed out that there had been a huge increase in the holding tax in 2016 and then again in 2022 the government linked it to the circle rate, as a result of which there was a huge increase in the holding tax. He said that the increase is not practical, so the government should withdraw it.

In the reply of the government, it was said that under the 15th Finance Commission and AMRUT 2.0, instructions have been given to link the holding tax with the circle rate. Legislator Roy rubbished the reply saying that the reply of the government is wrong.

He informed the house that the 15th Finance Commission provides four grounds for fixation of property tax. The first is the guidance value, the second is the annual rental value, the third is the unit area value and the fourth is the circle rate, he said.

It has also been said in the report of the 15th Finance Commission that the assessment of property tax should be minimal. That is, out of the above four grounds, in which the property tax is minimum, it should be adopted.

Roy further said that the officers of the government are misleading the ministers, misleading the house and giving misleading information to the house. He told the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly that there has been a huge increase in the holding tax in 2016, so the government should have told that how much was the holding tax before 2016, how much the holding tax increased in 2016 and the reason for this increase and on what basis but the government did not tell this and directly gave wrong information to the house that on the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission, the holding tax has been linked to the circle rate.

After Roy raised an objection with proper ground, the minister-in-charge, who was replying, said that he would reconsider it after consulting with the chief minister.

Roy told the house that in the instructions of the 15th Finance Commission, it has also been said that what arrangements have been made by the government to provide water, electricity, sanitation, sewerage, transportation, education, health. The level of these facilities should also be the basis for determining the holding tax. On this basis also it is highly impracticable to link the holding tax with the circle rate.