BJP MLA from Surat East Arvind Rana has written a letter to the state government, requesting it that the professional taxes recovered from the city areas by municipal corporations should be abolished to give professional tax grant in return to professionals.
A first-time MLA, Rana’s letter, addressed to Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, contends that GST, which has been implemented from July 1, 2017, with a motive that all the businessmen and traders will be free from different tax structure and will come under only one tax slab, should be honoured.
In his letter, Rana has further mentioned that the businessmen and traders pay GST and they also have to bear the burden of paying professional tax to the municipal corporation.
Rana, who has also served as a standing committee member, further mentioned in his letter that the local municipal corporation officials take taxes from businessmen without calculating the number of workers working in the firms and the annual turnover of the business. “The municipal officials also threaten the firms’ owners that if they fail to pay professional tax, their shops and establishments’ licences will not be renewed,” it states. Rana has also suggested in the letter that the professional tax should be removed in the municipal corporation areas and in its place the state government should adjust the amount by giving professional tax grant to the local municipal corporations after adjusting it in the GST.