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NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 4, 2004: Leftist parties have mounted pressure on the UPA government (ruling coalition led by the Congress Party) to impose a cess (tax assessment) on all religious institutions to fund rural development projects. The proposal is part of the Left’s tax-reform blueprint to be discussed with the government before the budget exercise for the next fiscal. The Left has already sounded out finance minister P. Chidambaram about its tax reform agenda, which includes a cess slap on incomes of religious institutions. Sources said the issue figured at a meeting between Communist Party of India (see their web site here) leader Gurudas Dasgupta and Chidambaram on Monday. Even a nominal cess can fetch US$400 to 600 million annually, said Left sources. They cited religious places like Vaishno Devi temple, Lord Venkateshwara Temple, Tirupati and Golden Temple, Amritsar, where annual income from offerings and assets are “very large.” Another major Left proposal is to tax big farmers. It wants farmhouses in the highest tax slab and increased tax rates for high-income groups (annual income $11,360 and above). Private schools, nursing homes, hospitals, lawyers and doctors are also in the Left’s target for resource mobilization. Dasgupta said the Left would also press for an expenditure tax on those hosting lavish parties.

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