Nagaland contractors pay 43% in seen, unseen taxes

Kohima: According to the Nagaland Contractors and Suppliers Union (NCSU), local contractors pay upto 43% in seen and unseen taxes out of the total of a given work order.

These taxes include GST, tax paid to Naga political groups, state government officials, politicians, forest tax, and so on.

Addressing a press conference in Kohima on Thursday, NCSU president Pele Khezhie informed that in 2016, a study was conducted by a committee set up by the state government headed by HK Sema.

During the study, the committee found out that 43% of the funds meant for execution of the projects were spent on seen and unseen taxes.

The high rate on taxes becomes a contributing factor in delivery of poor workmanship, Khezhie said.

He revealed that the Union had received letters from 18 factions. This, he said, poses as a major challenge for the contractors. He also cited how keys of the machineries were seized by ‘brothers’ from the Naga Political Groups (NPGs) and instances of site engineers being ‘kidnapped’ unless their demands were met.

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