Liquor to get expensive in Maha, Mumbai safe
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra cabinet decided to levy LBT on all dealers who sell liquor and products made out of alcohol and have an annual turnover of less than Rs50 crore.
Liquor may get expensive in 25 cities of Maharashtra, except Mumbai. The state government is reintroducing local body tax (LBT) on traders selling liquor and products made from alcohol.
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra cabinet decided to levy LBT on all dealers who sell liquor and products made out of alcohol and have an annual turnover of less than Rs50 crore. The decision, however, will have no effect in Mumbai, where octroi is still in force.
This has been done to plug the income gap of civic bodies due to the state government's 2015 decision to abolish LBT levied by municipal corporations on those traders whose annual turnover was less than Rs50 crore. This led to 99.05%, or 8,08,391 traders, being exempted from paying the faith-based LBT, which replaced octroi in all municipal corporations, except Mumbai. At present, just 1,162 registered traders are paying LBT.
This was in culmination of the BJP's promise to the powerful traders lobby before the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.