Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, responding to allegations of the Opposition CPI-M councillors that tax collection is not being done properly which has resulted in a hike in expenditure than revenue earned by the civic body, said that Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will be taking further measures to ensure collection of both commercial and residential tax.

The Opposition CPI-M and Congress councillors during the KMC house meeting today raised allegations that tax is not being deposited properly with the KMC while the expenditure amount is exceeding from the revenue earned. They alleged that the recent tax payment method ~ Unit Area Assessment (UAA)~ started by the civic body is extremely complex due to which the citizens.

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Ratna Roy Majumder, a CPI-M councillor, said: “Not enough tax is being collected by the KMC in comparison with the amount spent by the civic body. It can be obs – erved that people are avoiding paying taxes as per the new tax payment method, UAA, which is extremely complex in nature.

Citizens are hardly getting any help from the civic body personnel who were expected to explain the procedure to the tax payers.” Prakash Upadhyay, a Congress councillor, pointing out the meagre amount of tax received against the total number of taxpayers, said: “Till now the civic body has received around Rs 55000 as tax while there are a total of sevenand- a-half lakh taxpayers. The expenditure by the civic body is increasing every day compared to the low revenue earned. The KMC should take strict measures against the tax defaulters.”

He added that agencies like the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is yet to clear their huge amount of taxes to the KMC. The mayor, responding to the allegations of the Opposition, said: “The KMC is taking all necessary measures to ensure every tax payer pays the dues for the facilities provided to them by the civic body.

The UAA initiative was implemented for capping tax.” He said, it’s taking some time for the citizens to understand its nuances but civic workers have been appointed in borough offices to help explain this payment method.