‘Will oppose tax collection by pvt firms if kept in dark’

Guwahati: The councillors of the ruling BJP-led coalition in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) have decided to oppose any tax collection bid by the state government, if the people’s representatives (the councillors) are not taken into confidence before outsourcing property tax collection rights to private firms.
A request for proposal (RFP) floated by the civic body recently, inviting third parties for enhancing revenue collection, created a furore among the councillors and MLAs. Though the RFP has been withdrawn, GMC mayor Mrigen Sarania said any such reform agenda, keeping councillors in the dark, will face a stiff resistance.
“We want reforms in tax collection because a significant number of families are evading their responsibilities. They are notpaying anything to GMC. Having said that, the tenders inviting bids from private parties should be floated in a transparent manner,” Sarania said. Three MLAs from the ruling BJP-led coalition — Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Atul Bora and Ramendra Narayan Kalita — had lashed out at state urban affairs minister Ashok Singhal after the RFP was published without intimating them.
Singhal, however, said the apprehension in certain quraters that private firms from outside the state will get the tax collection rights may not be true. “There are people in Assam who are efficient for the task. We are going ahead with the reform agenda. False information should not be disseminated,” he told media persons on Saturday.
Amid the controversy over the tax collection bid, the state government early this week clarified that engaging a third party for property tax collection will not put any additional financial burden on the city residents. Instead, the government asserted that the move is move aims to empower the urban local bodies (ULBs).
It stated that the state cabinet has already decided to engage a third party for the collection of tax in Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Nagaon as a “progressive measure” in June. Though property tax makes up the bulk of revenue for ULBs, the state government flagged concerns over the poor collection in GMC areas. In the 2021-22 financial year, the GMC could collect only 23.5%of its annual property tax.
West Guwahati MLA, Kalita said the lacuna is in the mode of tax collection. “If the online mode of payment is made easy, people will come forward to pay property tax. It can be done through GMC itself. Where is the need for private parties to do so?” Kalita asked.