SAD demands withdrawal of wealth tax on farmers

Demanding withdrawal of the Centre's decision to impose wealth tax on farmers owning land within eight km of urban areas, SAD today said the move is a serious blow to the farming community already reeling under debt.
The party has convened a meeting of its core committee here tomorrow to discuss the issue and to chalk out a strategy to oppose the anti-farmer move of the UPA government, SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said here.
"The decision to impose one per cent tax on the collector's rate for agriculture land falling within eight km of the municipal limit would crush the farmers of Punjab. As per the decision, more than 70 per cent of the farmers in the state would be forced to pay this tax," he claimed.

He also expressed deep concern that as per the collector rates of the land in the state it would be impossible for the farmers to pay the tax as it would be many times more than the annual income from their land.