The Times of India            05.08.2013

PCMC eyes water, property tax to make up for losses in LBT

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will intensify its drive to increase revenue from property tax, water tax and building permission departments to cover the shortfall of around Rs 150 crore in local body tax (LBT) collections.

Municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi said the budgetary target for LBT for the current financial year was Rs 1,200 crore. "However, we expect LBT collections to be around Rs 130-150 crore less than the budgetary target."

Pardeshi said, to make up for this shortage, the civic body would identify properties that have not been assessed to increase annual property tax collections. "There are around two lakh properties whose tax assessment has not been conducted. The property tax department will carry out a survey and assess all properties in the municipal limits, so that the civic body can collect tax from the owners."

He added, "The civic body will also make efforts to recover water tax arrears and to increase revenue from building permissions this fiscal. With all these measures, we hope to collect around Rs 150 crore and mitigate the shortfall in the LBT collection."

Pardeshi said the total LBT collection for the first three months of 2013-14 was Rs 221.78 crore. Last year, octroi collected in the corresponding period was Rs 293.72 crore. The LBT revenue is thus Rs 71.94 crore, or nearly 25%, less than last year's octroi collections. "The industrial recession has caused a shortfall of 15%, while 10% shortfall is due to fewer traders registering for LBT," he said.

The 10% shortfall can be mitigated by enrolling more traders for LBT. Pardeshi said, "In June, we decided to allow traders to pay LBT through cheques. Earlier, they could only pay the tax online through demand drafts. We have also decided to increase the number of banks where the tax could be paid. Earlier, it could be paid in just one bank."

The PCMC has also sent e-mails to 9,632 traders to remind them to register for LBT payment. There are 25,025 deemed LBT registrations - traders who are VAT payers - and 4,342 traders who have enrolled for LBT payment in Pimpri Chinchwad. Hence, 29,367 traders must pay LBT, but only 12,653 VAT holders have applied and taken LBT registration numbers, Pardeshi said.