The Times of India             10.09.2013

Civic body to name local body tax defaulters on website

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation is contemplating to put up names of LBT (local body tax) defaulters on its website. The civic administration feels that by making the names public, it could reduce the number of defaulters.

The LBT for a particular month has to be paid by the 20th of the following month, failing which a penalty is levied. The penalty is calculated at the rate of 2% of the total LBT amount payable by a trader.

"The property tax department has introduced a similar system. Payments from defaulters improved after their names were displayed on the website. As the experiment by the property tax department led to increase in collection, the LBT department, too, is now planning to replicate the scheme," officials at LBT department said.

They said the deadline for registering for LBT was extended twice. Traders were supposed to register themselves by March-end, the date was extended till May on traders' request. But many failed to adhere to the new deadline and demanded more time. The civic body then gave them time till June 20. Even after that, some traders have not registered, while some of those registered, have not been paying the tax in time.

The PMC has collected Rs 65 lakh as penalty for late payment of tax from as many as 4,500 traders in the city. It has initiated action against 325 traders for not responding to non-payment notices. The LBT rule has a provision under which the PMC can charge Rs 5,000 to those who fail to reply to the civic administration's notice. When contacted, Vilas Kanade, head of the LBT department, confirmed the development. Over 69,000 traders have registered for LBT so far. Traders related to industries, liquor shops and oil companies have paid the tax. Payments have been made through demand drafts, cash, cheques and internet banking.

Octroi, a key revenue source for the civic body, was replaced with the LBT on April 1. Octroi generated a daily revenue of Rs three crore and a revenue of up to Rs 100 crore a month. In 2012-13, the civic body garnered Rs 1,200 crore from octroi.