LBT to stay in State till Centre introduces GST

LBT to stay in State till Centre introduces GST

RERTERATING the commitment to scrap Local Body 'Tax (LBT) from Maharashtra by finding viable alternative. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday promised to explore all avenues so as to protect interests of state exchequer, local bodies and traders on this sensitive issue. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to scrap LBT after voted to power, bin looking at the precarious financial condition, the Government has now adopted a very cautious stance inviting sharp criticism from Congress and trading bodies which charged it with backtracking from its poll promise. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar declared that Maharashtra Government will Continue with Local Body Tax (LBT) in the state untill the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is introduced by the Central Government.

Presently, the Municipal Corporations gel Us 14,500 crorc income from LBT and Octroi (in force at BMC only) and after Octroi was scrapped, most civic bodies faced financial crunch and demanded special compensatory package. Duringiasi one year LBT fetched substantial income for corporations, but all tradingbodies were quite hopeful about removal of LBT during Thursday's meeting and were disappointed due to outcome of meeting.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said," Say if we manage to collect only Rs 8,000 crore from GST, the Cenlre will provide us with the remaining Rs 6,500 crore so that we gel the same revenue as we currently get from octroi and LBT. We have two options before us. Either we increase our tax collection by coming out with an alternative to LBT and octroi, or we wait for a year till GST 

will be introduced.

Posted in: News 2014