Indian state to impose new taxes on Kashmiris, to further economically marginalize them

On 21st February, the Indian state announced that a new property tax will be imposed on Kashmiris in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir from April 1, 2023^[9].

Before 5 August 2019, when Article 370 — a constitutional provision that, along with Article 35A, gave some degree of autonomous status to J&K — was illegally abrogated, there was no provision for property tax in the occupied territory. However, this has changed after 2019 and over 100 central laws were extended to Kashmir, all designed to consolidate India’s centralized power in Kashmir and to minimize any degree of autonomy Kashmiris may have previously possessed.

Former chief-minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti stated that the imposition of property tax in Jammu and Kashmir was part of the BJP’s larger agenda of impoverishing the Kashmiri people. She further added that the “imposition of this property tax is only one step in the BJP’s daily process of wreaking havoc on Jammu and Kashmir. As part of an anti-encroachment campaign, our legitimate businesses and homes were recently destroyed, and now we are being required to pay taxes on those properties.”

India’s military-occupation regime expects to get 1500 million in revenue from this property tax^[10].

[9] https://thekashmirwalla.com/j-k-admin-expecting-150-crores-from-imposing-property-tax/

[10] https://thekashmirwalla.com/j-k-admin-expecting-150-crores-from-imposing-property-tax/