Nagaland: Why tax when GST already there, asks Acaut

Dimapur, Sep. 19 (EMN): The Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (Acaut) has sought clarifications from the local authorities of Dimapur concerning the issue of taxes that are being imposed even with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in place on a number of goods in Dimapur. The organisation issued a press release to the media on Thursday demanding clarification from the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC). The Acaut referred to the Nagaland GST Act of 2017. ‘In section 173, it states that municipality taxes “shall stand annulled” and in other cases subsumed. There maybe provision of octroi for municipality to tax but the INR 2.50 tax per bag of cement in spite of the GST bill along with the e-way bill is questionable,’ the press release read. ‘ACAUT would like to seek clarification from DMC about this specific construction material, under what specific approval with which notification this tax is levied.’ On the matter concerning the so-called ‘royalty tax,’ the Acaut asked the Dimapur authorities to clarify. The press release stated: ‘The citizens understanding on “royalty tax” is for produce from one’s own state. Taking royalty taxes on minerals produced from other states by the Forest department along with Geology and Mining department is not only double taxation but the legality of the true sense of royalty tax is compromised as it is not inter-chargeable (sic) between two states.’ The Acaut has sought clarifications from the authority in concern to rectify the matter at the earliest. ‘GST billing automatically include the Nagaland state government share of tax benefits,’ the organisation said. The organisation added that it was giving its full support and cooperation to the public action committee of the Naga Council to see that the public resolution of “one government one tax” is realised.