Taxes on high rise buildings : Resource mobilisation gist
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 23, 2012 -

Resource mobilisation is not a mere statement. In many ways, this about sums up the approach of the Government to the resources at hand and how best to convert the assets into multipliers in terms of cost-benefits analyses.

Statistics do not lie, but at the same time, they are figures and in all probability the positive stance struck by Chief Minister O Ibobi, who also holds the Finance portfolio, in stating that resource mobilisation has improved considerably in the last few years may be on the basis of statistics.

Statistics do not explain the question of whether the Government has been able to tap the resources to its optimum level or not. This needs to be stressed, lest the Government lulls itself into a state of self complacency adorned by a round of back slapping amongst themselves.

Levying taxes on high rise buildings or mega buildings is not a bad idea, but how will the Government define what is a high rise building in the context of Imphal ?

The very term high rise building pre-supposes that the Government is eyeing the urban areas and other than Imphal it is difficult to name any other township in the State, maybe with the exception of Churachandpur and Kakching, which may come this tax structure.

Does the Government have a building bye law to decide what fits the description of a high rise or mega building ?

If at all taxes are to be levied on such structures, then building bye laws should be there in clear cut terms. Does the Imphal Municipality Council have a building bye law and if yes, then has it been revised ?

And building bye laws will have to be definitely different from place to place. A building bye law passed for the commercial areas obviously cannot be applied in residential areas and vice versa.

We hope the Chief Minister/Finance Minister kept this in mind while talking about the possibility of levying taxes on high rise buildings or mega buildings.

Another question is whether this will be inclusive of the house taxes that are in vogue or whether high rise buildings will have to meet another tax other than the house tax itself.

If at all a Bill is passed to impose high rise of mega building taxes, then how does the Government expect the IMC to go about with its duties ? Has the IMC been empowered or will it be empowered enough to collect the taxes ?

The need to classify such buildings as commercial or private will also surely arise. Will the tax structure be the same for all high rise buildings or mega buildings irrespective of whether they are used as private residences or for commercial purposes ?

These are points that the Government will need to study for bigger, higher buildings are sure to come up in the next couple of years, given the fact that land size will remain constant while the population will continue to grow.

Moreover the movement of people from rural to urban areas is another factor which will lead to the increase of high rise buildings in places like Imphal. The demographic shift is therefore another important point that should be studied.

The note of scepticism cannot be helped, for even after all these years of power cuts and extremely irregular power supply, the State Government is yet to make up its mind on whether handing over the task of power tariff collection to private players would be a positive move or not.

This is something which should have been studied and a decision taken, a long, long time back. The rider of poor power tariff collection sounds like a pathetic attempt at passing the buck. This merry go round exercise has gone on for too long.

The buck should stop with the man holding the position of Power Minister as well as the officials running and manning the Power Department. That the Government has not been able to decide whether the Power Department should be corporatised or not, even at this stage when Imphal is receiving only three hours of power supply a day, exposes the refusal of the people concerned to think out of the box.

Even after all these years, the Government is still talking about Loktak Hydro Project and its fluctuating capacity to supply energy. This has to stop. If the Loktak Hydro Project is not able to meet the growing demand for power, then why not do something about it ? Has any effort been taken up to augment power supply from this Project ?

Pre-paid meter boxes sounds like a fantastic idea, but it will not work if there is no power supply. This is simple logic. Why put the carriage before the horse ?