Goemkapronn desk
PONDA: The three main opposition parties in Goa, namely the Congress, MGP and Goa Forward Party, have urged PMC Chairperson Ritesh Naik to review the decision review the exorbitant tax hike.
Congress party led by Rajesh Verenkar, Councillor William Aguilar, and John Fernandes demand to review the decision of the exorbitant hike in house and Commercial taxes by Ponda Municipal Council.
Councillor William Aguilar said the house tax for new construction is hiked by five hundred per cent, i.e. from Rs 20 to Rs 100, while for new commercial construction, by Rs 50 to Rs 200, i.e. by 400 per cent.
He said though the decision was passed by the majority, it was a burden on the common people, and that decision was not taken by a proper discussion on the issue.
He demanded a review of the decision and lowered hiked taxes.
Congress leader Rajesh Verenkar said PMC should not only hike taxes but also provide facilities like CCTV, issuing prompt certificates to citizens etc.
He said the Congress party is partly opposed to hiking taxes. He said there is a need to hike taxes but not exorbitant.
Meanwhile, MGP Leader Dr Ketan Bhatikar and Goa Forward Party leader Durgadas Kamat also expressed unhappiness stating that the sudden hike is burdening the common man and should review the decision with a reasonable and affordable hike to people.
It may recall that on 19 Oct, PMC hiked house tax from Rs 7 per square meter earlier to Rs 15 per square meter while commercial taxes were hiked to Rs 100 from rs 20 earlier.
Similarly, for new construction of houses, the taxes are hiked from Rs 7 to Rs 50 per square meter, and for commercial, Rs 50 to Rs 206 per square meter.
The implementation will be from the next financial year.
Briefing to media later, Chairperson Ritesh Naik, along with PMC Chief officer Yogari Borkar said, “We are forced to take this hard decision after it was realized that our expenditure went to more than Rs 10 Crore while revenue is around Rs more than 7 crore thus deficit is to the tune of more than Rs 3 Crore”.
