Vijayawada: Garbage tax move raises a stink

Vijayawada: The Central and the State governments were conspiring to impose garbage tax worth Rs 600 crore on the urban population throughout the State, said the speakers at the roundtable meeting jointly organised by the Andhra Pradesh Urban Citizens Forum (APUCF) and the Tax Payers Association at Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vijnana Kendram here on Friday.

APUCF convener Ch Babu Rao, AP State Bar Council member Sunkara Rajendra Prasad, Tax Payers Association secretary Anjaneyulu, CITU general secretary K Umamaheswara Rao, Donepudi Kasinath, IADWA leaders Jhansi, K Sridevi, Ratnamala, people's organizations leaders Nageswara Rao, Vishnuvardhan, MN Patrudu, K Ramesh, V Srinivas, Sundara Ramaraju and others addressed the roundtable meeting.

The speakers pointed out that the governments were planning to impose more taxes on the people at a time they should be given relief when they were hit by pandemic Covid-19. They said that it was the responsibility of the governments to take care of the public health and hygiene.

The speakers expressed concern over the notices served by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to all the families to pay Rs 100 as garbage tax per month. It is highly objectionable that the Centre was stipulating conditions to collect garbage tax from people in the name of Swachh Survekshan awards. They flayed the State government for yielding to the Centre's diktat for the sake of obtaining loans.

About 1.5 crore people living in the urban areas throughout the State would have to bear the brunt of garbage tax. "Urban reforms do not mean burdening people with more taxes," they said.

The elections to the local bodies were not conducted and the local councils were not formed, they pointed out stating as to how the governments could impose taxes on people without the consent of the local bodies.

Moreover, the governments are also planning to increase house tax on the basis of market value of the property which would result in exorbitant increase in the house tax. It is high time people united to resist the garbage tax in the first place.

They called upon people not to yield to the pressure from the government and pay garbage tax. They demanded the government to withdraw the notices served on people on garbage tax. They also called upon people to organise such roundtable meetings throughout the State and oppose the imposition of garbage tax.