Holding Tax: CCC puts hike plan on hold

The Chittagong City Corporation on Monday postponed the holding-tax reassessment programme. The city dwellers, including leaders of different political parties, hailed the decision as they had long been demanding cancellation of the reassessment.

The development came a day after the LGRD and Cooperatives ministry's Local Government Division in a meeting decided to postpone the reassessment for city corporations across the country. 

Secretary of the Local Government Division chaired the meeting held in the ministry on Sunday, said Shamsuddauha, chief executive officer of CCC, who represented the CCC in the meeting.

Shamsuddauha said the ministry postponed the reassessment as an automation programme regarding the holding tax collection started in city corporations. 

“The pilot programme is going on in Dhaka north and south city corporations, and it will start soon in other city corporations,” he said.

The reassessment will begin once the automation programme is complete. Until then, the tax will be collected as per the rate fixed previously, he added.

Chattagram Kordata Surokkha Parishad, a group created to protect the taxpayers of Chittagong, launched a movement demanding cancellation of the reassessment after the CCC announced the reassessment in March last year to reassess the holding tax on homeowners. 

The group held different programmes in the last one year. Stating that the amount of tax would increase manifold due to the reassessment, it called upon the city corporation to keep the tax rise at a tolerable level.

Praising the decision of postponing the reassessment, Amir Uddin, general secretary of the parishad, told The Daily Star that they were very happy with the decision.

“We are grateful to the people in the city to give us support and cooperate in our movement,” he said, adding, “We are also thankful to the leaders of different political parties who gave support to our movement.

“We would like to thank the government for realising the people's sentiment,” he said, adding, “We would bring out a victory procession in the city immediately.”

Shahadat Hossain, president of Chittagong city unit BNP, hailed the decision.

He also demanded that the government cancel the reassessment programme of holding tax, considering the people's sufferings.

Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, lawmaker of Jatiya Party from Chittagong-9 constituency, said he raised his voice against the reassessment in parliament and urged the ministry to keep the holding tax at a reasonable and tolerable level.

“The reassessment of holding tax is the decision of the ministry, not of the mayor and so only the ministry can change or postpone the decision,” he said, adding, “So, I have called upon the ministry to withdraw the          decision.”

Contacted, Badiul Alam, joint general secretary of Chittagong city unit Awami League, lauded the postponement decision and said a quarter was trying to make the government and the mayor unpopular by increasing the holding tax manifold in the name of reassessment.