Vijayawada : TPA demands disclosure of Finance Commission report

Vijayawada : (NTR District) The Taxpayers Association (TPA) has demanded the State government to immediately disclose the Fourth State Finance Commission report to the people. The TPA sent a letter to the Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in this regard on Monday.

Addressing the media at TPA office here on Monday, TPA secretary MV Anjaneyulu said the Fourth Finance Commission submitted its report to the State government in October 2019 but the government has not disclosed the details to the people.

He said the taxpayers have the right to know the reports and suggestions of the Finance Commission that were submitted to the State government.

Anjaneyulu said the State Finance Commission recommends to the State government on allocation of grants to the local bodies and also make suggestions on increasing income of the local bodies. Anjaneyulu said the state government can either accept or reject the recommendations of the Finance Commission. He said more than 30 months passed since the Finance Commission submitted its report. Neither the Assembly nor the people knew about the recommendations of the Finance Commission. He said the State government has to prepare Action Taken Report (ART) on the Finance Commission suggestions and have to submit a report in the Assembly and it has not been done so far.

The TPA secretary said the government has changed the procedure on payment of property tax from rental basis to property basis. He said the government is collecting user charges on shifting of garbage and transferring the income to Clean Andhra Pradesh Corporation and also increasing the tax burden on the people. He said water charges increased and implementation of reforms on the suggestions of Union government also hastened. He said Taxpayers Association opines that implementation of reforms basing on the suggestions of the Union government and without considering the Finance Commission recommendations is illegal. Anjaneyulu said not disclosing the Finance Commission report is undemocratic and demanded that the Government immediately make the commission report public. Taxpayers Association president V Sambireddy and member V Srinivas were present.