Get ready to bite the bullet

Shelved proposals back
NEW DELHI: Just three days after the Assembly poll, the spring of sops has given way to the winter of discontent. In its budget proposal on December 3, the MCD came up with a slew of taxes.
The proposal to charge one-time parking tax was shelved last year after public outrage. This year, however, the proposal has been revived with a twist, suggesting that at least commercial vehicles should be brought under the ambit of this tax.This will bring an additional revenue of Rs 20 crore.
One of the new taxes introduced by the MCD is the professional tax for those national capital region residents who work in Delhi. This will be levied at 1 per cent of income tax or a maximum of Rs 2,400. ‘‘We plan to collect additional revenue of Rs 120 crore,’’ Mehta said.
The MCD also plans to levy ‘‘betterment tax’’ that will be charged from households with high electricity consumption. Those residents who have bills higher than Rs 1,000 will have to shell out 5 per cent tax. This is in addition to the 5 per cent tax that MCD collects already. The MCD expects revenue up to Rs 70 crore at the initial stage. All these taxes will be levied from April 2004. Commissioner Rakesh Mehta has also revived last year’s plan to charge parking tax.
Besides this, the MCD has suggested hiking the transfer duty from 3 to 5 per cent. The duty on transfer of property had been cut to 3 per cent just a few months back with much fanfare. The new system of assessment of property tax is also likely to hike taxes.
The unit area method of property tax was cleared by the Centre as early as December 2002. But the lack of political will delayed the project by a year.
Water will be dearer
NEW DELHI: The benefits of 2003 being an election year are over. With a fresh mandate in hand, the Congress-led Delhi government will pursue important, if potentially unpopular, policies.
First on the reforms list might well be water supply. According to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), P K Tripathi, water cess might go up after the new government re-assumes power.
‘‘We have often said that the pricing of water in Delhi needs to be rationalised. We intend to pursue it again,’’ he said. ‘‘I am in favour of rationalisation on the ground that it may ultimately lead to conservation, just as higher power tariffs have,’’ he said. The logic, according to him is simple. ‘‘You value something if you are paying more for it,’’ he reasoned.
Also on the agenda would be the setting up of a regulatory commission for water, and related reforms. ‘‘The commission will actively enforce the optimum utilisation of water,’’ he said.
He, however, denied any moves to privatise water supply. ‘‘Simply because it would fail as a business model. In India, it is not feasible for private companies to do this,’’ he said.
In the power sector, ‘‘more teeth would be given for enforcement’’ to discoms or the private power distribution companies, say officials.