Orissa Withdraws Professional Tax

Succumbing to pressure from opposition as well as a large section of ruling party MLAs, the Orissa government has withdrawn the move to impose professional tax in the state.

The proposal to levy professional tax in the state was a major highlight of the Orissa budget for 1997-98 and accordingly the government had introduced a bill in this regard in the state assembly a couple of days back.

The move was expected to net Rs 26 crore additional revenue per annum and formed a key part in the government's elaborate drive to mobilise Rs 100 crore additional resources in the current financial year to prop up some of the plan expenditure.

The decision to withdraw the bill was taken at an emergent meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) which had been specifically called to discuss the issue after several ruling party MLAs including senior ministers expressed their reservations over it. Though the opposition Janata Dal had resisted the proposal from very beginning, the ruling party members had joined the bandwagon of the critics later. Their contention was that the new impost would affect the salaried class, particularly when the state is reeling under an acute drought situation.

However, the deputy chief minister and the finance minister B K Biswal had stuck to his guns despite the opposition and threatened to resign if his own party members made any attempt to scuttle the bill. Biswal had argued that the new tax was necessary if the state intended to raise Rs 100 additional resources in the current year as committed by the Chief Minister J B Patnaik before the planning examination.

Yesterday's CLP meeting turned out to be stormy with more than a dozen Congress MLAs unhesitatingly decrying the move.

They pointed out that imposition of professional tax would be come as a handy weapon for the opposition to mount attacks against the ruling party, particularly when the municipal polls and a possible general elections are round the corner.

Biswal, who was left alone to defend the bill in the meeting presided by the chief minister J B Patnaik, ultimately succumbed to the pressure reluctantly following which the CLP adopted an unanimous resolution urging the government not to impose the proposed tax. While doing so, the CLP however, suggested that a cabinet sub-committee be set up to devise alternative ways to bolster up the resource position.