ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Over-indebtedness and Its Drivers among Microfinance Borrowers in India

In microfinance markets worldwide, over-indebtedness among borrowers and households has emerged as an important concern. Over-indebtedness, measured in terms of sacrifices made by households, is high in both rural and urban India. Factors statistically significant in explaining over-indebtedness are the borrower’s age and financial literacy; the household’s entrepreneurial activity, income level, and spatial location; and the proportion of dependent members in a household.

Business Property Tax as an Alternative

to Octroi Shyam Nath Tapas Kumar Sen One of the recent developments in the area of revenue of local governments is (hat octroi is on its way out. A vigorous drive is on to locate a new tax to compensate the urban local bodies for the loss of octroi revenue. Tax supplements 'to sales tax in the form of entry tax and surcharge/additional sales tax have been employed as a substitute measure to restore local fiscal balance in the absence of octroi The present study evaluates these tax supplements in terms of their impact on resource allocation, equity, and local fiscal autonomy. Surcharge/additional sales tax has been argued to be better than entry tax. However, these taxes being state levies are found to be contradictory to the objective of local fiscal autonomy.

A Substitute for Octroi-Entry Tax vs Business Property Tax

Report of the Committee on Substitution of Octroi, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, October 1987; pp 97.
OCTROI is a levy on goods entering into a local jurisdiction for sale, consumption or use. It is collected at the checkpost specially set up for this purpose. The octroi officials use some rule of thumb supported by vouchers and documents, which the transporters carry with them, to determine the tax liability. This mode of assessment and collection of tax has been a subject of controversy all along. Critics have found at least two major defects in octroi: one, it obstructs smooth flow of goods thereby causing business and production losses, and two, it breeds corruption in the absence of account-based assessment at the checkpost.

Is Residential Property Tax Equitable-A Case Study of Calcutta

This study of the residential property tax in Calcutta confirms that the tax is inequitous. Further, the conditions in the housing market are conducive to the shifting of the tax to the consumers of housing. Estimates of the elasticity of housing services with respect to income suggest that the residential property tax possesses built-in regressivity. The tax in Calcutta is much more regressive than what the income-rent relationship would suggest. It is only through fax rate changes and efficient administration that the regressivity can be reduced or progressivity introduced. For the tax to be fair and to be closely related to the services it supports, the assessment disparities should be minimised and tax rates should be so structured as to generate tax demands according to the ability to pay THE property tax on residential housing is one of the less popular of taxes and is widely regarded as being unfair. It is considered that this tax is-neither closely related to the ability to pay nor to the benefits received from the services it supports. It is further contended that the tax is degressive, i e, it casts a disproportionately high tax burden on low value properties and the low income owners or users of properties. These issues have attracted researchers in many of the advanced countries particularly the United States [Aaron, 1975; Black, 1977; Peterson 1972; Paglin and Fogarty, 1972; Advisory Commission, 1978; Dahlby, 1982; Ellis et al, 1983]. However, these aspects have not been adequately explored using Indian data. The present paper attempts an empirical investigation of some of the aspects of the equity of the property tax on residential housing. The analysis is based on a case study of Calcutta.

Impact of Rent Control on Property Tax-Base in India-An Empirical Analysis

Base in India An Empirical Analysis Shyam Nath Urban property taxes in India are levied against the annual rental value of the property. At the same time, Indian housing policy has relied upon rent controls to constrain increases in house rents. Since the Courts have found that property assessments are to be based upon rents paid rather than on what the property would fetch in a free market, rent control has adversely affected1 the level and growth of property tax revenues in Indian cities.

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