Don't collect taxes for now : MTU
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 25 2024: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union has urged the Government to not collect taxes from Government employees, traders, farmers etc who are Manipuris for the year given the crisis besieging Manipur since May 3 last year.

The Union, in a statement, contended that tax relief must be given to people at the time of crisis be it natural calamity or large scale human conflict as practised across the world.

Saying that the people of Manipur should not be made to pay taxes for the year by the Income Tax Department or other relevant authorities, MTU reasoned that the State's economy is yet to recover from the harm done by Covid pandemic and is now made worse by the ongoing clash.

The price of essential items has skyrocketed due to the hindrance in transporting goods along the National Highways, it continued.

The Union further stated that many factories, industries and other business establishments are on the brink of closure while over 10,000 hectares of paddy land remain unsafe for the farmers to engage in agricultural works.

The Union went on to claim that over 31,742 hectares of paddy lands remain unattended due to the crisis, drought and other factors, resulting in the loss of over Rs 7000 crore of the State's revenue.

It would be illogical to collect taxes from the people who have been facing serious financial strain, it said.

The State Government employees and ex-employees are no exception as they also have not been getting their salary and pension amount on time, the Union maintained and added that the Income Tax collected a large chunk of money (tax) from Grade I to III employees in 2021-2022 financial year.

It elaborated that the Income Tax collected Rs 139 crore from State Government employees and Rs 359 crore from Manipuris working for the Central Government in 2021-2022 .

Continuing that Manipur is a State where Inner Line Permit System (ILPS) is enforced and implementation of ILPS implies that 95 per cent of the State population belong to Scheduled Tribe, the Union urged the Government to study if collecting taxes from only the Meiteis would be justifiable at this difficult juncture.

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