Bajwa assures farmers to take up Wealth tax issue with Centre

Opposing imposition of Wealth Tax on agriculture land within eight Kms of urban areas by the Congress led UPA government, the Punjab unit of the party today said that it would take up the issue with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
He would "take up the issue of imposing wealth tax on agriculture land with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister in the coming Parliament Session," Punjab Congress President and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa said here today.
Interacting with a delegation of farmers led by former MP and BKU national president Bhupinder Singh Mann, Bajwa assured that Punjab Congress would strongly oppose imposition of wealth tax and party would stand by farmers on this issue.

Mann told the PPCC president that farmers in other districts were receiving notices for payment of the wealth tax. "If wealth tax is not withdrawn it will ruin the farmers," he said.
Bajwa said that wealth tax is much higher than the per acre income from agriculture land.
"Punjab would be more affected since Municipal limits of many cities are extended to villages and collector rates of land have also increased manifold," he claimed.
The wealth tax has been imposed at the rate of 1 percent of collector rates, Bajwa said, adding, he feared that farmers would be forced to sell their fertile land to land mafias.

"The notification for imposing wealth tax was issued in 1993 but it was not implemented," the PPCC Chief assured, adding, the interests of farmers would be protected.