The building permit fees in the State were hiked due to persistent demands from the local bodies, including the ones ruled by the Opposition parties, for measures to increase their own revenues, Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh has said.
Responding to questions at a press conference here on Wednesday, he said that the State government does not get any of the revenue from the hikes, all of which goes to the local bodies.
“The local bodies lost a major chunk of their revenues which came through entertainment taxes when the Union government implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The State government is currently providing 27.19% of its plan funds annually to the local bodies, which is the highest share among all the States. Yet, the local bodies are struggling with insufficient funds, even to pay their salaries. Because tax and fee revisions were not carried out in a timely manner, there has been a major shortfall in their revenues. The rates in Kerala are still the lowest in India,” said Mr.Rajesh.
He said that the permit fee has not been hiked for houses up to 876 square feet, while the fee has been fixed in separate slabs for houses of more area. The State government has been facing heavy criticism from the Opposition for the increase in permit fees, with the Leader of the Opposition accusing the government of attempting to pass on the financial burden due to its mismanagement and tardy tax collection to the public.
