Ayodhya: In keeping with the Yogi Adityanath government’s promise of 2022, the municipal corporation of the holy city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh has waived off property, water and sewage taxes being levied on temples and maths. In its place, the civic body introduced a “token tax”.
However, this token tax, implemented on April 1, 2023, has faced significant resistance from several priests, who claim the system benefits larger entities, official sources in the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation told ThePrint .
The annual tax levied is based on the size of the area in which the matha or temple is situated – Rs 1,000 (up to 1,000 sq ft), Rs 3,000 (1,000-3,000 sq ft) and Rs 5,000 (above 3,000 sq ft).
Following last year’s announcement, tax department officials had conducted a survey and by September had prepared a list of 1,080 entities in Ayodhya that would be exempted from property, water and sewage taxes. However, sources in the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation said that several mathas and temples were found to be indulging in commercial activities and were removed from the list.
“Since, only those monasteries and temples which were not involved in commercial activity were to be exempted, these were removed from the list. Now, 783 such mathas and temples are on the list,” a municipal official told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that out of these 783, only 400 have paid token tax.
“Around 400-500 mathas and temples are paying the tax, but others are not paying as they are resistant,” the official said.
Many priests claim that it is the smaller monasteries and temples that are resistant to paying this tax because they feel that while they have been officially brought under the tax regime, larger temples and monasteries that are more than 5,000 square feet Are established in the area are paying minimum tax.
“Small maths are being taxed while big temples and maths are escaping any major tax,” said
Mahant Dharmdas, head of the Nirvani Ani Akhara, told ThePrint. Dharmdas was also one of the litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi case and his akhada is associated with one of the Bandage (streams or schools) of the prestigious Hanumangarhi temple.
A municipal corporation official explained to ThePrint, “Earlier, taxes were being paid by maths and temples, but many institutions avoided payment, in the hope that the Yogi Adityanath government would force maths and temples to pay taxes completely. Will heed the demands of the priests – free.”
“However, now that the token tax has been officially levied, most big maths and temples are liable to pay only Rs 5,000 annually. The priests who run small mathas and temples believe that a matha set up in 5,000 square feet cannot be compared to a matha set up in 15,000 square feet.
Officials told ThePrint that while many mathas and temples are set up in an area of 10,000 square feet, only a few are set up in more than 15,000 square feet.
“If genuine sadhus, who are not indulged in greed and commercialisation, are being exempted from tax payment, then it should be welcomed. But there are many people who are running businesses from mathas and temples and members of the public who claim to have temples inside their homes to get benefits,” said Mahant Dharmadas. “Such people should be identified and discouraged.”
Municipal officials said that there are many entities who have not paid tax despite bills being prepared and sent to them through SMS service and in writing. Late payment will attract a penalty of 12 per cent of the total tax.
“Till now there is resistance to tax payment as many maths and temples were not paying the same and have now officially become liable to pay tax. They will be charged interest of 12 per cent of the total tax,” said a corporation. the officer said.
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reality check
Priests like Nritya Gopal Das and Suresh Das – both prominent figures Ram Janmabhoomi Movement During his previous term, he had met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and demanded that all monasteries and temples in the city be officially tax-free.
Welcoming the move to remove all the three taxes, Mahant Satyendra Das, head priest of the temporary temple at the under-construction Ram temple, said there are many temples and mutts which are self-sustaining and run only on charity and donations. Chadwa by the devotees.
However, tax evasion has always been an issue in Ayodhya, tax department officials said.
While many mutts and temples were not paying house, water and sewage tax, officials say commercial and residential entities were also evading the tax, according to prominent seers of the temple town ThePrint reported.
Speaking to ThePrint, KC Sudarshan, the tax assessment officer of the municipal corporation Ayodhya, told ThePrint that out of 44,218 entities in the municipal corporation area, only 6,555 entities were paying taxes till last year.
“Owners of several entities, including mixed properties, commercial and residential, were evading tax,” he said.
Several priests and mahants ThePrint spoke to admitted that payments have been made since Ayodhya was transformed from a municipality to a municipal corporation.
Mahant Satyendra Das, head priest of the makeshift temple in the premises of the under-construction Ram temple, told ThePrint, “Immediately after Ayodhya became a municipal corporation, the maths and temples were not paying taxes.
Ayodhya tax rules
Additional Municipal Commissioner, Ayodhya, Arun Kumar Gupta told ThePrint that the municipal corporation has so far been charging 23 per cent of the annual rental value (ARV) of a residential property as tax.
“Under the regime, the owner of any property had to pay a total of 23 per cent of the total ARV of the property as tax. This includes: property tax (10 per cent of ARV), water tax (10 per cent of ARV) and sewage tax (3 per cent of ARV),” said Gupta.
The ARV of a property is calculated on the basis of per sq ft rental value of a property, which varies between 60-85 paise in Ayodhya depending on the locality.
For example, if a property owner owns a property in 1,000 sq ft of land in Ayodhya with a monthly rental value of 60 paise per sq ft, he will pay Rs 600 as monthly tax or Rs 7,200 as annual tax. shall be liable to pay. ,
Commercial establishments such as hotels, guest houses, coaching centres, shopping complexes, general stores, etc., are liable to pay five times the tax levied against residential property, while five-star hotels have to pay six times this tax.
Nursing homes, hospitals and marriage lawns are liable to pay thrice the amount of tax to be paid by the owner of a residential property.
While Ayodhya became a municipal corporation in 2017, the official announcement of making monasteries and temples tax-free was first made in 2022, when the CM visited Ayodhya soon after winning a second term, as shown in media reports Has gone.
Soon after, the municipal corporation began the process of removing the three taxes, and in May 2022, it passed a resolution on tax exemption to monasteries and temples in the municipal board, stating that institutions that engage in commercial activity , they do not get any such relief.
“The priests had demanded that the temples and mathas be completely tax-free. However, the municipal board did not agree to this and suggested that a token amount be charged as it was not possible to make the institutions completely tax-free,” a tax department official told ThePrint on condition of anonymity. told.
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Burden on Municipal Corporation
According to Ayodhya Municipal Corporation officials, there are around 8,000 mathas, temples, ashrams and residential buildings within the limits of the Ayodhya area.
“Of these, 1,080 have been identified as mathas, ashrams and temples. Of the rest, there are around 6,900 residential entities who are liable to pay property, water and sewage taxes,” said Subhash Tripathi, tax superintendent, Ayodhya Municipal Corporation.
Vinod Gaur, tax inspector of the Faizabad zone, told ThePrint that the corporation was earning a total of around Rs 3 crore from these 8,000 entities.
“Out of this amount, if all these 1,080 entities are exempted from paying these taxes, the corporation will bear the tax burden of around Rs 40.5 lakh. However, this figure is not final and has been revised after objections,” said Tripathi.
While monasteries and temples will be completely exempted from payment of taxes, the municipal corporation will collect these taxes from entities of mixed nature, i.e. those that are residential and commercial, and those that are purely commercial in nature.
“There will be many institutions which will fall under the mixed category. These may include institutions that have a temple and a shop in the same premises. In such cases only temple area will be exempted and not residential or commercial area.
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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