Your Space: Pune Metro cess unfair, will impact property buyers

Maharashtra government plans an additional 1% metro cess on property purchases from April 1 this year

Maharashtra government plans an additional 1% metro cess on property purchases from April 1 this year. Our readers tell us why the cess tell us why the cess is unfair and a burden to homebuyers.

We will be paying for the tickets, which can be on the higher side for a few years, but charging property owners who are already overburdened with the taxes, hardly seems fair, say residents. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

Why should ordinary flat buyers be penalised

A certain sector of the society (mainly IT sector employees) are already overburdened with taxes that do not come back to us in the form of progress and public benefits as often as they should. We also give taxes on 100% of our incomes with ridiculous tax brackets which should have been changed years ago based on the inflation. Add to this the monetary and financial burden of buying a property in an already expensive state like Maharashtra, adding the 1% does not seem fair. We will be paying for the tickets, which can be on the higher side for a few years, but charging property owners who are already overburdened with the taxes, hardly seems fair. Let commuters incur expenses, why should ordinary flat buyers be penalised with cess

-Simran Ruprah

People won’t buy homes anymore

I think it is absolutely unfair to levy additional cess on properties. Anyhow the real estate value is going to go to rise due to proximity to the metro. This will only cause added financial burden to buyers. Consumers are already overburdened after two years of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, which resulted in business and job losses and pay cuts. If this tax is levied and in the coming years the percentage goes up, it might dissuade people from purchasing real estate leading to further issues.

-Aditya Puranik

Make allocation within the budget

In my opinion, the public is already paying enough taxes to the government. Since the Pune Metro is public transport, an allocation should be made within the budget for funds for the project. Charging an additional tax to the already tax-paying citizens is very unfair. As it is the population already pays a property tax, and property prices are soaring.

-Anisha Puranik

Prevent burden on homebuyers

As an individual taxpayer, I feel it’s not fair that the government keeps piling up the burden on us. Taxes go on to add to the funds to support public projects. To levy additional cess on property buyers is adding on to the total cost of owning a house, a shop or restaurant for common people for which they anyway have to apply for heavy loans. Increasing the burden on the general public is not fair and the government should think of better ways to deal with the situation. We are obviously going to pay for tickets. People pay tolls for specific roads. Nobody pays cess for owning properties around them.

-Sadaf Sultana

Why levy tax on one particular industry?

Levy of any tax becomes a very sensitive point, since sometimes it is necessary also to levy and sometimes it becomes a burden. The real estate sector is still recovering from the pandemic, and adding the cess will slow it down further.After going through the pandemic for the last two years, consumers have been spending cautiously. In order to boost the purchases and economy, government needs to provide some benefit like they did last year in case of stamp duty. Also, they have been paying more tax on petrol and diesel. This has generated good revenue for the state government. Also, selectively levying tax on one industry and not on others, the government will also have to face backlash as it would amount to discrimination. In my opinion, for the time being government should not levy any additional tax on real estate.

-Ankit Rungta

Builders will be affected too

During lockdown the government has given subsidies for home buyers to increase investments in real estate and support the economy. Now, with the return of pre-pandemic times, the government will recover all the money from the tax-payer of this country. The political pressure on the state will put more pressure on common people as expenses are going to increase. In my opinion it’s not right to over burdened the middle class population with extra tax. The builders will be affected too. If the vision for affordable housing for all is to be achieved, the middle-class taxpayer must be rewarded for his diligence and not burdened by additional taxes.

-Leo Carvalho

There is enough revenue from ticket sales

It is unfair to people who are already paying so many taxes and now the government wants to introduce 1% metro cess. If we look at the ticket revenue of the metro, on the first day (ie March 6) Metro got revenue of ₹5 lakh, if that is the case then why do they want the tax. My point of argument is, not all people are travelling from Metro and even though the metro has only started on two routes (ie 10km) then why should all the people pay the tax? At least if the Metro network was across the city then we could have understood that the facility is used by all and the government wants to add additional tax but this is not the case right now. Government should postpone their plans.

-Anupriya Gole

Does the govt want to please people or fool people?

People are finding it difficult to manage their expenses and the government wants to introduce new taxes which is ridiculous. On one hand, in the budget, state government is slashing VAT on cooking gas and CNG but on the other and, they are trying to make money from other sources. Do they really want to please people or fool people? MVA government should not take people’s sentiments lightly as they have just started to recover from pandemic.

-Amey Rathod

A pinch in the pocket

I don’t feel it is the right time for the government for plan additional taxes for metro cess. Let people recover their expenses as most of them have spent their savings during pandemic time. Right now, people are expecting sensible steps from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Additional taxes will hurt the common man’s pocket and it will also have a negative impact on people who are willing to purchase new property, but have to hold themselves back as property cost will increase.

-Sunita Marne

This will have political implications on MVA

There is no need to introduce metro cess in the current financial year. Let the realty sector recover and then introduce new taxes. The additional burden to the people will hurt the chances of the MVA regaining power in the next elections. Budget has been welcomed by people from all the classes, so why introduce new taxes.

-Arpit Joshi