Indian Express 05.8.2010
BMC can issue property tax bills on old rateable values
Express News Service Tags : BMC property tax bills, mumbai Posted: Thu Aug 05 2010, 00:32 hrs
Mumbai: The State cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to bring in an ordinance to allow civic bodies like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue property tax bills based on old rateable values till they finish the ground work for a capital value based system.The ordinance will allow the civic body to issue property tax bills as per the old rateable value instead of the capital value based property tax which was to be implemented since April this year.
The BMC had reported a cash crunch unless it could begin despatching its property bills immediately. BMC officials had reported that the yearly property tax collections were down by over 68 per cent this year, compared with collections last year this time. The monthly tax collections too are down by over 86 per cent this July, compared with collections last July.
The BMC could not issue property tax bills as per the new capital value-based property tax structure to tax property owners. “BMC was facing hurdles as they had not completed the survey and fix rates as per the capital value. For the current year, the government has decided to bring in an ordinance which will allow the civic bodies to tax bills as per the old rate and revise it later when the survey is completed. The civic bodies can then collect the difference at a later time during the year,” said an urban development department official.
BMC had sent a proposal to the Urban Development Department asking permission to send property tax bills to residents based on old rateable value system.
