Thursday, August 22, 2013: A decision has been taken by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which will charge five per cent penalty from those erring traders who have not registered their names for the local body tax (LBT). The civic administration has stated that 23,319 traders in these two towns have not registered their names with LBT.
If defaulters fail to open an LBT account, they will be liable to pay five times LBT in penalty, the civic authorities warned. Civic records point to the fact that out of 29,594 traders which were eligible to pay LBT, only 6,275 traders paid LBT.
“There are 25,025 deemed accounts of LBT in PCMC and around 13,171 traders have taken user IDs from the civic body for paying LBT, while 11,854 traders are yet to take their user IDs to make payments,” said a civic official according to a DNA report.
Moreover, civic officials mentioned that PCMC will also charge two per cent interest monthly on the LBT from traders, who do not pay tax even if they have opened an LBT account and generated user IDs. Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister opines that PCMC may make a loss of Rs.3 Billion (Rs.300 crore) this fiscal year because of the introduction of LBT in place of octroi.
Hence, it can also have a negative effect on the development projects in the city. Though, the budgetary target for LBT with respect to the current financial year is fixed at Rs.12 Billion (Rs.1200 crore), PCMC anticipates to garner about Rs.1.3-1.5 Billion (Rs.130-150 crore) less than the set target, the DNA quoted the LBT Chief of PCMC, Ashok Munde.
