The Hindu 03.01.2014
MCC to launch tax collection drive
It will begin this month and extend through February and March, to meet the Rs. 88-crore target
The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) will launch a property tax collection drive from this month, to meet its target of collecting Rs. 88 crore for the financial year 2013–14.
This includes arrears of Rs. 12 crore. Also, against the set target, the authorities have mopped up around Rs. 54 crore so far.
Jagadish, MCC Revenue Officer, told The Hindu that the average rate of collection for a month hovers around Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 2.5 crore.
However, the MCC invigorated its drive in December, which increased the tax collection to nearly Rs. 5 crore.
“Hence, we intend to launch a special collection drive in January and extend it through February and March to meet the target,” Mr. Jagadish said.
The authorities will fan out to all 65 wards in the MCC limits and reach out to the public to facilitate them to pay property tax in their respective wards itself.
This will not only obviate the need for the public to visit the MCC offices, but also eliminate the hassle of standing in queues.
Apart from various grants received by the government, property tax is one of the important source of revenue for the MCC, whose annual budget of nearly Rs. 400 crore is reckoned to be inadequate to meet the rising cost of providing civic amenities and infrastructure, apart from meeting the administrative or running cost. There are nearly 1.72 lakh registered properties in the MCC limits as per records. But, Mr. Jagadish said a fresh survey was on to ascertain the total number of properties — residential as also commercial — which may have come up in the city.