The Hindu 22.04.2013
GHMC to go after 5 lakh property tax defaulters
After collecting a record property tax collection of more than Rs.750
crore, the GHMC has announced its intent to go after the chronic
defaulters of about five lakh property owners. At the same time, the top
brass also promised to ‘incentivise’ early tax payers.
A rebate
of five per cent property tax was to be given to citizens paying the
entire year amount before April 30 as per the proposed changes to the
GHMC Act by the Municipal Administration & Urban Development
Department.
Officials clueless
But, with less than 10
days left for the month to end, municipal officials have no clue about
the status of the incentive or even whether the changes to the Act have
been made or not.
Earlier, it was announced that the amendments to
the Act would be passed during the ongoing budget session of the
Legislative Assembly.
None in the senior position is able to say whether the bill cleared by the Cabinet has been passed or not.
G.O.
“We
have to find out. Even otherwise we can announce any tax incentive to
the early birds after a government order is issued through a gazette
notification,” say senior officials.
They were also not sure whether the incentive time line would be extended beyond April end.
“Usually,
any deadline comes into effect only after we have issued the demand
notice for the year. Since, we are in the process of issuing demand
notices from next month only, there is a chance of the incentive being
made applicable for June end,” they claim.
Citizens in a fix
However,
the officials are not willing go on record and want to wait till
Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu returns from his China trip. In the
meantime, citizens have been calling up newspaper offices enquiring
about the tax incentive. “We read about the five per cent rebate for
early tax payers. Is it on?,” wondered Herman Papali.
A time limit
of 90 days from the commencement of half year for payment of property
tax without levying a simple interest and 100 per cent tax penalty on
unauthorised constructions are also among the proposed changes.
Confusion reigns supreme over 5 p.c. rebate for paying entire year’s tax amount.
