Kapurthala (Punjab): Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that the SAD-BJP government would soon review the imposition of property tax in the state in the larger interest of public, amid Congress's demand for its abolition.
Talking to reporters here, the Chief Minister said the move to levy property tax in urban areas was a collective decision of the state cabinet.
However, Badal said if there is resentment over the decision of the state government to levy property tax, then “we are duty bound to review it”.
The statement assumes significance as the imposition of property tax is considered to be one of the main reasons of the SAD-BJP alliance's poor performance in the state in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections.
Last month, the state Local Bodies Department had decided to hold meeting with citizens living in urban areas and get their feedback about property tax.
Congress's Punjab unit had on May 25 asked the SAD-BJP government to abolish property tax in the state with immediate effect, after the NDA dispensation took charge at the Centre.
The SAD-BJP alliance had been maintaining that it had to impose property tax as the Centre, under the Congress-led UPA, had withheld grants sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Punjab government had imposed property tax last year with effect from April 1, 2013, following which the people have to pay levy on commercial and residential properties, including vacant plots.
