‘Akalis are resorting to tax terrorism’
Wednesday, 30/07/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=111956&boxid=57930&uid=&dat=2014-07-30
PATIALA: Senior Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Preneet Kaur on Tuesday said that the Akali-BJP government had virtually resorted to tax-terrorism on trade and industry threatening its virtual closure.
Supporting the Patiala Bandh for Wednesday called by the Patiala Beopar Bachao Sangarsh Committee and the Punjab Property Dealers, Plot Holders and Colonisers Association in support of their various demands, Preneet Kaur said confronting the bankruptcy this government had resorted to draconian laws to fleece the traders.
“The traders and businessmen were faced with a double whammy as on the one hand the trade was not doing well and on the other hand they had been imposed with punitive taxes”, she said while announcing her full support for the bandh. She said imposing such taxes on traders was not going to help economy rather it will erode further as the trade will suffer and tax collection will come down. Seeking withdrawal of punitive and draconian taxes, she pointed out it was unheard of that the excise department should impose 200 per cent penalty on traders or the police will go for random raids on chemist shops. “They are turning it into a police state”, she remarked, adding the traders’ grievances were genuine and justified.
Kaur demanded immediate withdrawal of property tax, regularisation fee and interest on plot holders, reduction in collector rates by 40 per cent on agriculture, commercial and residential land, permission to colonisers to deposit their compounding fee without any penalty
