KATHMANDU.

The Kirtipur municipality is not going to increase tax in the next fiscal year, citing the municipality citizens have been burdened by COVID-19. The municipality’s Revenue Advisory Committee said the municipality shall not increase the rate of any type of tax and retain the existing rate in view of the impact of coronavirus pandemic on trade and business. An emergency meeting of the Committee on June 16 made this decision.

Deputy Mayor and Committee convenor, Saraswoti Rijal said the committee has decided to retain the existing tax rate for the fiscal year 2020/21. She said the committee’s report has already been submitted to the mayor Ramesh Maharjan. However, the municipal executive has not made a decision on this yet. The municipal executive is holding a meeting on Tuesday and it is expected to recommend to the Municipal Assembly not to increase tax when it endorsed the municipality’s finance bill for the fiscal year 2020/21. The Municipal Assembly is convening on June 24.

The municipality had set the target of collecting revenue of Rs 120 million in fiscal year 2019/20 but it has collected Rs 8.45 million only as of June 14. PCR lab to be set up Meanwhile, Kirtipur municipality is preparing to set up a PCR lab at the Blood Bank building that has been operated by Lions Club inside the Tribhuvan University campus. Rijal said the operation of the lab has reached the final stages by using the PCR machine at Tribhuvan University.