The Hindu        06.03.2017 

Urban local bodies get demonetisation boost

Spurt in property tax collection during demonetisation window

Demonetisation has worked magic for the urban local bodies (ULBs) across the Telangana State with the property tax collection swelling like never before.

By allowing citizens to pay through old demonetised currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000, the collection from 71 municipal bodies, excluding Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), was Rs. 214.59 crore in November last year!

It is a good Rs. 181 crore more when compared to the tax collection the previous year in the same month. The December 2016 property tax collection too was not that bad with Rs. 27.03 crore, though it was less than the amount collected during the same month in the previous year.

The ‘demonetisation’ month or period of November 11 to 24 when the Government permitted limited transactions through old notes, including payment of taxes and official dues, has helped the local bodies to mop up more than Rs. 250 crore by December-end when the total demand is about Rs. 346.5 crore, including arrears, and current assessment of Rs. 266.5 crore and arrears of Rs. 79 crore.

“We have had good collection despite constraints of staff crunch with 13 ULBs having mopped up 82 % like Medipally and Boduppal. Property tax collection of another 24 local bodies is between 40 % to 60 % but we also have places like Zaheerabad and Wanaparthy which have had zero collection in last few days,” Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) T.K. Sridevi said.

Mopping up

Holding regular interactions and video-conferencing is going on between her and the municipal commissioners or officers in-charge in the last few months to keep a tab on the tax collection considering the deadline of March 31 is fast approaching.

“We expect the collection to pick up as most citizens pay in March and also because the Government is disinclined to give any interest waiver this year,” she says.

There are more than 16 lakh property assessments in the municipal bodies across the state and following GIS surveys completed in 33 ULBs, 20,000 new properties were unearthed and Rs. 34 crore realised in 32 of them.

Govt. properties

However, the tax collection for the Government properties has been very poor. For the 35,543 properties across the urban local bodies, tax collection so far has been just Rs. 9.75 crore when a whopping Rs. 81.5 crore has to be collected including arrears.

All the district collectors, in a written communication, have been urged to take up on priority the collection of property tax from Central and State government properties as it has direct bearing on the financial position of ULBs.

“All these will be factored when the credit rating agencies assess the municipality concerned,” points out Dr. Sridevi.

The Hindu          06.03.2017   

Mysuru City Corporation to crack down on property tax defaulters

A file photo of properties in Mysuru. MCC had already issued notices to the defaulters under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976.M_A_SRIRAM  

The civic body still has to get more than Rs. 134 crore of tax for 2016-17

With more than Rs. 134 crore of property tax yet to be collected, out of the Rs. 221 crore due from 1.92 lakh listed properties in the city, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has sought to act against defaulters by threatening to seize their movable property.

In a statement here, the civic body said that they had collected only Rs. 87.80 crore out of the estimated Rs. 221 crore property tax this year. It is also finding it difficult to execute its development works.

The MCC had already issued notices to the defaulters under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976. “The property owners had three months from April 1 to pay the tax. After the deadline ended in June-end, the MCC first issued a notice to pay the property tax dues in 30 days. When there was no reply, a second set of notices had been issued to pay the dues in 15 days,” a MCC official said.

In a statement here recently, MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha said that the civic body will invoke provisions under Section 147 of the Act to seize the movable property if the defaulters fail to pay their dues along with penal fee in the next 15 days.

“Our personnel will visit the premises, conduct mahazar and seize the movable property,” a MCC official said. Meanwhile, the revenue officials of all the nine MCC zones in the city are engaged in reassessing the properties for tax in view of the widespread under valuing. “Several property owners had assessed a lesser area for payment of property tax. Such properties had been reassessed by the revenue officials and collection of property tax as per the revised assessment was also underway,” the official added.

The MCC, while presenting its Budget for 2016-17, had targeted a collection of Rs. 199 crore from property tax and khata transfer fees.

Meanwhile, a team of MCC officials led by elected representatives, including Nandeesh Preetam, paid a surprise visit to a mall on M.G. road in the city and asked the owners to clear the pending dues to the civic body.