Holding tax reassessment to remove disparities

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is reassessing the holding tax to remove disparities between the rates of new and old houses and flats in the city, mayor Sayeed Khokon explained Thursday.
He ruled out the claim of abnormal increase in holding tax and said the rate remained same at 12 per cent as it was before. The rate has not been reassessed for the past 29 years, he added.
The mayor made the DSCC's stance clear replying to a question at a press conference at Nagar Bhaban in the city, amid concerns expressed by the city dwellers over the ongoing holding tax assessment exercise by the city corporation.
It was informed at the press conference that the reassessment was to adjust the holding tax particularly of the old houses and flats, which were paying much less tax than the new ones.
The objective is to bring equality by removing the existing discrepancies among the new and old houses and flats, said the mayor.
He, however, pointed out a provision for revising down the tax rate if it went up by 40 per cent. He also assured of considering the matter if any citizen wants to bring the tax down to a logical level through holding discussion.
Mr Sayeed Khokon made the clarification about the holding tax at a time when various citizens' groups, civil society and other forums were raising their voice against the new holding tax.
A citizen's platform submitted a memorandum with a five-point demand to the mayor and alleged that the mayor has increased the tax by three to 10 times in the name of equalisation.
They also demanded reassessing the tax rate every five years as per the rule and not to increasing the tax more than 10-15 per cent.
The press conference was organised to inaugurate the e-trade licence issuing system and e-holding tax payment mechanism of the city corporation.
The e-trade licence and e-holding tax activities would help mitigate the sufferings of the citizens, operate businesses and pay holding tax from the homes, said the mayor.

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