A cartpuller walks past a billboard. File picture

Nov. 26: The GMC has asked the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) to pay Rs 4.43 lakh for 2007 and 2008 as advertisement tax on billboards and welcome gates that were put up for the One-Day International against Pakistan.

The GMC in 2007 asked the ACA to pay Rs 2.43 lakh as advertisement tax for the India-Pakistan ODI, which was played in Guwahati. A letter from the office of the GMC commissioner was sent to the ACA secretary on November 17 asking them to pay the money as it is liable to pay tax on advertisements displayed in forms of billboards, banners and welcome gates.

According to Section 173 of GMC Act, tax on advertisement has to be paid by individual, institution or corporation. The rules state that in case of failing to do so, necessary action will be taken in accordance with Section 177 of the GMC Act.

The advertisement tax for the forthcoming ODI between India and England on Saturday has aggregated to Rs 2 lakh. “Many welcome gates and hoardings have been put up in different parts of the municipal area without any written permission from us and no tax has been paid either,” a GMC official said.

Section 174 of GMC Act says advertisements would not be allowed if permission has not been taken from the corporation. “We have to clean up the city and would be held responsible if any garbage is found, but then we are not getting our due,” the official said. Cleanliness of the city is the responsibility of the GMC and in important events like an international cricket match, it is asked to work day and night to keep the roads clean.

The corporation has stated that ACA’s explanation given on November 19, 2007, was not satisfactory. The ACA had said it was not liable to pay any tax to the GMC because the advertisements in the stadium are leased out to New Delhi-based firm Ad-Pro and the revenue from those put up outside the stadium goes to the Board of Sports of Assam.

The ACA explained that the gates and the hoardings did not belong to the ACA but were put up by different sponsors and organisations.

“We are not liable to pay any tax to the GMC. We clarified it to the GMC after the last ODI itself. If anybody owes anything to the GMC, the civic body should charge them directly and not us. When we do not earn anything from an exercise where we are not at all involved, why should we pay tax?” asked ACA secretary Bikash Baruah.

The only major revenue income for the cash-starved municipal corporation is property tax. The major financial setback and consequent revenue gap for the GMC was in the year 2003-04, when the revenue receipts went down sharply. This was primarily because of withdrawal of toll tax, which contributed as much as 33 per cent of the revenue earnings for the corporation. Another key factor for the financial crunch is the extremely low recovery of the cost of services rendered by the corporation.