Banks among highest tax defaulters in Margao

MARGAO: The ongoing drive by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) against tax evasion by traders has revealed a rather unsettling fact. Of the high-net-worth business premises found to have been running their trade without the mandatory trade license, most are banks and financial institutions.

The civic body has now sent demand notices to them to pay up their trade tax and house tax arrears after obtaining their trade license.

“The banks, which initially maintained that they had all required approvals, are now running to the MMC to apply for trade license and pay up their dues, after receiving demand notices to that effect,” a senior MMC official told TOI.

The civic body has been sealing commercial premises of -net-worth traders who have defaulted in paying up their “hefty” dues as well as those plying their trade without a trade license.

“Apart from big firms and offices, what surprises one is that banks and financial institutions have been major defaulters in paying up their tax dues,” a source said.

Senior officials of the MMC concur with the view that if action is taken against all such defaulters, the municipality will soon be flush with funds. “If we systematically go about recovering the arrears from all these-net-worth businesses, Rs 100 cr revenue recovery will soon be within sniffing distance,” MMC chief officer Siddhivinayak Naik said.

Further, in a bid to tap newer resources for revenue generation, MMC is mulling levying “professional fees” on professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers and chartered accountants.

MMC’s back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that it’s revenue could go up by at least Rs 25-30 lakh per year by introduction of professional tax.