No ‘toilet tax’ in Himachal Pradesh: Chief Minister reacts to reports

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu denied reports that the government was considering to impose tax on number of toilets in houses.

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said there was no decision to impose ‘toilet tax’ countering the reports that the government would levy a ₹ 25 tax per toilet seat on residents of urban areas.

Terming the reports’ baseless’ Sukhu said that out of ₹ 100 water charge, the 'toilet tax' will be 25 per cent per residence, according to NDTV.

The senior Congress leader told reporters that before the assembly polls the BJP promised free water meters saying water consumption would be free of charge, adding that his party proposed a subsidy of ₹ 100 per family for water ‘which included five-star hotels as well. Only those who can afford it are paying. There is no such thing as toilet tax’.

‘Even big hotel chains have been brought under the purview of this new tax. Those questioning the move must understand the economics first,’ the news agency IANS quoted him as saying.

Earlier Union Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, took to platform X slamming the Congress government saying that ‘Unbelievable, if true! Whilst PM (Narendra) Modi ji builds Swachhata as a people's movement, here is Congress taxing people for toilets!’

BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh said that the Himachal government is "continuously imposing new taxes and restrictions on the people", calling the move the government’s ‘economic bankruptcy policy bankruptcy and mental bankruptcy’.