AGARTALA, September 3 (TIWN): The Tripura legislative assembly today passed the Tripura Tax on Luxuries in Hotels and Lodging Houses Bill amidst protests from the opposition benches. The Bill, which aimed at raising luxury taxes on a list of sixty hotels of the state, was moved in the House by Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha on the last day of monsoon session of the 11th state legislative assembly.Leader of the opposition Gopal Chandra Roy protested the Bill and said in an observation that the state government was trying to increase revenue by imposing additional taxes on every possible sector.“There is no step to increase new assets to be harnessed, rather the government is busy in expanding its revenue base by increasing tax rates on everything”, Roy said.

The bill proposed to raise luxury taxes from 10 percent to 20 percent.

Former opposition leader and senior MLA Ratan Lal Nath said that the Bill was a move to impose further taxation on the poor and middle class people.

“We don’t have much business tycoon hotel owners in the state. And then the list of sixty hotels that would be covered by the Bill wouldn’t ensure coverage to all hotels as well. This is an incomplete Bill and conspiracy to exploit the poor”, Nath said.

Deputy Speaker Pabitra Kar denied to entertain protests from the opposition and moved the Bill for voting in the House. It was later passed with thumping majority from the treasury benches.

The government, however, today suffered an unforeseen jolt as the Tripura Entertainment Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was denied admission in the House after former opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath pointed out that the formulation of the Bill was self-contradictory and erroneous.

While placing the bill in the House, Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha said that it would replace the previous regulatory mechanisms on amusement industry which was last amended in 1997.

The Bill would bring Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators under the ambit of taxable legislations. “DTH service providers are now bringing such amendments that the government isn’t able to collect VAT from them anymore. This Bill would solve the revenue loss incurred by the government in the entertainment sector”, Saha said. He added that the Bill replaced ‘amusement’ applicable in all previous versions of the act to ‘entertainment’ to cover all forms of entertainment industries.

In a stark criticism of the government’s move, MLA Ratan Lal Nath said that the Bill stood self-contradictory since the Tripura Entertainment Tax Act, 1997 itself replaced the word ‘amusement’ and replaced it with ‘entertainment’. Any attempt of further amendment in a similar line would mean denial of the existing legislation, he said.

The Bill was later sent to an Assembly select committee for further evaluation. The select committee constituted in the House comprised of Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha, Law Minister Tapan Chakraborty, Labour Minister Manik Dey, Tourism Minister Ratan Bhowmik, chief whip Samir Deb Sarkar, MLA Basudeb Majumder, Padmakumar Debbarma, Rita Kar Majumder and leader of the opposition Gopal Chandra Roy, Ratan Lal Nath and MLA Birajit Sinha.