Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 1
“Despite the everyday hue and cry by the public on the menace of taxation by different elements, the scourge is only increasing instead of decreasing,” said a businessman attending the public rally against illegal taxation and rampant collections organized by the Public Action Committee under the aegis of Naga Council Dimapur on Wednesday.
Citing an instance, the businessman who did not wished to be named, said the DMC has introduced commercial vehicle tax whereas we need to understand that on vehicle purchase the public are paying registration fee, road tax and yearly permit renewal which is why when the permit is being renewed the government should either give the amount to DMC or otherwise the state government stop such permit taxes during vehicle purchase.
He claimed that the DMC agents were even intruding into owners’ compound to collect commercial vehicle tax and this amount to invading an individual’s privacy. “On one side, the government is talking about bringing down tax but they are engineering all types of new taxation and that is one classical example,” he alleged.
As for GST, the businessman said, there are certain items listed and not listed under GST. For those items listed under GST, the DMC has no right to collect item tax but the state government has directly allowed the DMC to collect tax even on those items listed under GST. However, commodities like fish, fruits, vegetables do not come under GST and that is a different matter, he said.
He said that the government may share the revenue collected out of such GST listed items if they are concerned about the survival of DMC but they cannot allow DMC to collect additional taxes from the businessmen since GST covers all taxes right from procuring the raw materials, manufacturing and till the time a customer purchases it on maximum retail price.
“With such additional taxes, how can a businessman do business on the fixed MRP? The business community gets sandwiched in such situation,” he said.
The 1-km stretch from Nagaland gates 'most expensive stretch'
Another businessman gave an example of a truck loaded with goods originating from Delhi till Guwahati covering a distance of 2500km paying tax amounting to Rs 50, 000/- to 60, 000/- approximately. “Whereas the same truck coming from Guwahati to Dimapur pays tax amounting to Rs 45, 000/- to Rs 50, 000/- approximately,” he said.
On national average (Delhi to Guwahati), the truckers are paying Rs 20/- per km approximately while from Guwahati to Dimapur, the truckers are paying Rs 130/- approximately, he informed and added that the tax at Guwahati-Dimapur route was 4-5 times above national average.
Such abnormal tax being paid to various collections points at Nagaland check gates and its vicinity occurs only within a mere kilometer inside Nagaland, he said such collections were the reason for price escalation of various commodities.
He said truckers coming from Guwahati till Lahorijan pay various taxes on a national average but the tax rise abnormally starting from Nagaland check gates itself till about 1km inside Nagaland where collections by various agencies, unions including Nagaland police shoots up the amount of taxation. 
“The police have no right to collect any kind of fee but they are doing so openly when they are supposed to be vigilant on other agencies collecting illegal tax,” he also alleged. Stating that less than a kilometre stretch inside Nagaland gates was the “most expensive stretch,” he wondered why the state government could not deploy more security forces at such locations in the interest of public welfare. No open tenders, only middlemen Another businessman at the rally spoke to The Morung Express about kickbacks in procuring various items by the state government departments without open tenders and added that this particular issue was also a high form of corruption. He said most of the departments are procuring items from stationeries to heavy machineries with under-the-table dealings through middlemen thereby depriving the genuine businessmen of equal opportunity to earn their livelihood. “For example, by conniving with the middlemen, a truck tyre which costs around Rs 13, 000/- in the market is purchased by the government at almost 100% increased rate which otherwise if open tender was invited the government could have procured the item at a much lower rate than the market price since the businessmen will also compete among themselves to sell their products,” he added. Adding that such purchases are done by government departments for many other items, he said that at the end of the day, certain individuals and those in power are pocketing the money. He further said that open tender system will ensure transparency and enough money will be saved for public development. “So government should directly get in touch with the dealers or through tender system and get the right price,” he added.
