Karnataka: New bill proposes hefty luxury tax on lavish weddings

BENGALURU: If this private bill gets adequate support, ostentatious weddings could come under the scanner of the state government. The private bill was moved by former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday to stop brazen display of wealth at weddings.

Called the Karnataka State Wedding Karnataka Marriages (Registration and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2015, it proposes hefty luxury tax on lavish weddings.

Though a copy of the bill was not made available for members or media, a law-maker said, weddings with budgets in excess of Rs five lakhs or 1,000 invitees would be taxed in case the bill garners adequate support to be enacted as legislation.  Legislators are expected to discuss the bill sometime next week.

“Not only do they spend lavishly but they also waste large quantity of food. It has influenced people in rural areas so much so that they sell available property to afford such unnecessary expenditure.” law minister TB Jayachandra had said while proposing such a bill a year ago, but he was forced to drop the idea following a stiff opposition from his own partymen.

As per the earlier proposal, the government ought to rein in those who spend up to Rs 7,000 for each invitation card by imposing luxury tax. The government had then said that taxes collected from such big budget weddings would be used to sponsor marriages of young women from poor families.

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.