http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/Theres_no_end_to_Mayas_maya/articleshow/2413148.cms
There's no end to Maya's maya 29 Sep, 2007, 0243 hrs IST,Bharti Jain, TNN NEW DELHI: Iving up to her political stature, Mayawati now not only figures among the country's richest politicians, but has officially become the highest tax-paying people's representative. The UP chief minister and BSP supremo has, between July and September 15 this year, paid a whopping Rs 14 crore as advance income tax for the assessment year 2008-09. While she paid Rs 1.5 crore as advance tax in July, an additional Rs 12.5 crore was deposited by her on September 15. This may be only a percentage of the total tax to be paid by her for the assessment year. Till September 15, assessees need to disclose only 40% of their income and the remaining 60% can be declared by March 15. In an affidavit filed along with her nomination papers for the UP Assembly polls, this year Ms Mayawati had declared an income of Rs 52 crore. The Dalit icon, who rose from humble beginnings as the daughter of a lowly clerk of the government and worked as a school teacher before BSP founder Kanshi Ram initiated her into politics, incidentally, continues to face a disproportionate assets case alleging that she had, over the period 1995-2003, declared her income at Rs 88.70 lakh when her known sources of income totalled Rs 1.12 crore. The latest status as the highest income-tax paying politician may only help Ms Mayawati legitimise her huge wealth acquired over less than a period of three years, when her declared income grew from barely Rs 1.67 crore — as recorded in the affidavit filed along with the nomination papers for 2004 Lok Sabha poll — to Rs 52 crore this year. By paying tax on a declared high income, Ms Mayawati hopes to weaken the CBI's disproportionate income case pending against her. The BSP leader has been claiming that the assets amassed by her are "contributions" from "ordinary party workers as well as well-wishers". She, in her affidavit filed with her nomination papers for this year's state polls in UP, had declared her property at Rs 37.82 crore, cash worth Rs 50.27 crore, deposits in banks, financial institutions and non-financial institutions at Rs 12.88 lakh, gold and diamond jewellery at Rs 49.75 lakh, silverware at Rs 1.12 lakh and murals worth Rs 15 lakh, which are among her assets totalling Rs 52 crore. She even found a convenient explanation for her newly acquired wealth: donations from her supporters after the BJP upped the ante with "false" cases like the Taj corridor against her. Property accounts for the largest chunk in Mayawati's wealth. She owns prime commercial properties in Connaught Place as well as Okhla, besides a palatial house on the posh Sardar Patel Marg and another mansion on Nehru Road, Lucknow. -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
