The Pokhara Tourism Council, an umbrella organization of tourism entrepreneurs, has drawn attention to the pressure created by the Pokhara Municipal Corporation on tourism entrepreneurs in the name of 'advertisement tax' in the last few days.
In a statement issued by the Chairman of the Council, Gopi Bahadur Bhattarai, said that he has got the authority to raise the advertisement tax of Pokhara Municipal Area for the Fiscal Year 2078/79 BS.
The Pokhara Metropolitan City has urged the federal government to stop the practice of collecting the fees of the boards set up as the identity of their business even though they are free to collect the prescribed revenue.
The statement said, "Entrepreneurs are informing that the boards set up for their business identity are not advertisements. It is the sovereign right of the businessmen who are registered with the official body of the Government of Nepal and have been paying the state by collecting all taxes and value-added tax including registration fee, income tax, and business tax. The law prohibits double taxation.
The council opposed the move, saying it had an arbitrary attitude. The state has stated that it will not pay the tax levied on the entrepreneurs in the name of advertisement tax forgetting the obligation to protect the business.
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