BHUBANESWAR: The fiscal year 2011-12 has concluded and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation could not make a headway in reaching the ` 40 crores target that they had set for themselves. The BMC had set out to meet its tax target by employing urgent measures as a last resort. Tax collectors were provided with vehicles and special squads were prepared, but to no avail. The tax collection procedure has hit a new roadblock with a stay order being issued by the High Court. BMC had proposed a hike in the holding tax by revising the tax structure. A citizen’s forum, protesting the hike, filed a writ petition with the HC which stayed the tax collection. “We can not make new assessments beacuse of the the courts stay order,” said BMC mayor Ananta Narayan Jena. In a bid to force the tax defaulters to pay up, the BMC authorities have put up the names of the top 10 defaulters on hoardings at strategic points to compel them to pay their taxes. But till date, there is no mechanism in place that makes it mandatory for the BMC to show their expenditure. “If BMC can put up the hoardings with the defaulters name on it, they are equally accountable to show how it is using people’s money. There has to be this kind of a transparency,” said executive director of Local Governance Network Piyush Rout. “Along with the names of 10 defaulters, the authorities could also put up the names of the top tax payers to encourage others to pay tax on time,” added Rout. With many of the citizens unaware of the concept of holding tax, it is difficult for the BMC to collect taxes in the first place.
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