The Times of India 02.09.2009
MMC begins assessment of houses
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council on Tuesday began the task of reassessing residential houses in the city in a bid to bring all such houses, that
were not assessed for the past several years, under the house tax scanner.
Some 350 houses came on the radar of the civic body at the end of day one of the exercise, sources informed. The exercise is scheduled to continue for the next two months with over 20,000 houses expected to be assessed during the period. The MMC has employed daily wage workers for the purpose. They have been grouped into seven teams.
The exercise is aimed at shoring up the treasury of the council by widening its tax base by 60%. "We hope to derive multiple benefits through this survey. One, we will be able to generate a proper database of the number of residential and commercial houses located within the city limits. Two, apart from bringing more houses under the tax net, we will also be able to impose trade tax on commercial units that were not assessed for house tax," MMC chief Savio Coutinho told TOI.
Coutinho added that the newly assessed houses also stand to gain as they will be able to avail of MMC's proposed development schemes and plans for the city.
Though over 20,000 houses had not been assessed for long, Coutinho was categorical in his assertion that all such houses could not be termed as illegal. "Many houses existed for many years and also figured in the survey plans, but for some reason, they were not assessed for house tax, though they availed of every other facility like electricity, water connections, etc," he pointed out. At present, over 40,000 houses are being assessed by the MMC for house tax.
The MMC now plans to decide on a cut-off date for the newly assessed houses for regularization. "Once the survey is over, we will set a cut-off date for allocation of house numbers to these units," Coutinho said.
Some 350 houses came on the radar of the civic body at the end of day one of the exercise, sources informed. The exercise is scheduled to continue for the next two months with over 20,000 houses expected to be assessed during the period. The MMC has employed daily wage workers for the purpose. They have been grouped into seven teams.
The exercise is aimed at shoring up the treasury of the council by widening its tax base by 60%. "We hope to derive multiple benefits through this survey. One, we will be able to generate a proper database of the number of residential and commercial houses located within the city limits. Two, apart from bringing more houses under the tax net, we will also be able to impose trade tax on commercial units that were not assessed for house tax," MMC chief Savio Coutinho told TOI.
Coutinho added that the newly assessed houses also stand to gain as they will be able to avail of MMC's proposed development schemes and plans for the city.
Though over 20,000 houses had not been assessed for long, Coutinho was categorical in his assertion that all such houses could not be termed as illegal. "Many houses existed for many years and also figured in the survey plans, but for some reason, they were not assessed for house tax, though they availed of every other facility like electricity, water connections, etc," he pointed out. At present, over 40,000 houses are being assessed by the MMC for house tax.
The MMC now plans to decide on a cut-off date for the newly assessed houses for regularization. "Once the survey is over, we will set a cut-off date for allocation of house numbers to these units," Coutinho said.
