Coimbatore, July 17 (KNN) The Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises (TACT) and the Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Associations (FOCIA) have submitted a memorandum to the Coimbatore Corporation demanding exemption from running licence and professional tax.

As per reports, the Corporation officials held a meeting recently with trade and industry representatives on the running licence and professional tax rates.

The associations said the micro and small-scale units do job orders for larger industries in sectors such as pumpset, wet grinder, fabrication, plastic, and grill works. These units do not get orders throughout the year and the margins are low. Since demonetisation, the micro and small-scale units are facing several challenges and many have professional tax arrears too.

So, the civic body should not collect arrears from these units and should not take action on them. It should also exempt the units from running licence and professional tax. The tax slabs should be determined based on the electricity units consumed and not on number of people employed or area of the building, the associations said.

J. James, president of TACT said, “ the corporation is looking at steep hike in the charges collected from industries and trade. The Coimbatore Corporation had already hiked property tax 250 per cent. Several industries that were operating in the fringe areas of the city became part of the Corporation as they were located in the areas added to the Corporation and now had no option but to pay multiple taxes to the civic body.”

In the meeting, the associations demanded single tax for businesses in the Corporation areas. (KNN Bureau)