The world’s largest semiconductor maker faced a rather peculiar threat by a civic body in India’s Silicon Valley earlier this week.
On Aug. 8, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)—Bengaluru’s administrative body responsible for civic and infrastructural assets—sent loaded garbage trucks to Intel’s local offices , threatening to dump trash at the premises unless the company paid its outstanding property tax, according to local media reports.
The US-headquartered company owes BBMP Rs34 crore ($5.1 million) in property tax dues since 2009-10, Bangalore Mirror newspaper reported.
According to BBMP, Intel has been paying taxes for non-air conditioned premises, while its building is centrally air-conditioned. The civic authority has been asking for its due for a couple of years now, but Intel has challenged the demand in court. The company refused to share details about its argument against BBMP.
In July this year, Intel appealed its tax in the Karnataka high court. The court asked the company to deposit just 50% of the request sum with BBMP. That apparent compromise does not seem to have resolved the issue, however.
“Today, we went to collect the tax and we came to know that they have obtained four more weeks’ time from the court to pay the money,” said BBMP joint commissioner Muniveerappa M, who went to Intel’s campus yesterday with the garbage trucks. The trucks were removed from the facility soon after.
Twitter users could not resist from expressing their amusement over the innovative tax-recovery method used by Bengaluru authorities.