The Times of India 14.09.2010
New property tax system by Jan '11
KOLKATA: Keeping in view the assembly elections next year, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has fixed January 2011 as the deadline for the introduction of Unit Area Assessment (UAA) method for the determination of property tax.
The KMC is halfway through for introduction of UAA, which has been successfully tested in cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Patna. However, experts are now pointing out that since a majority of these cities are planned ones, the formula could not be followed in Kolkata. A section of experts have even sent a note of caution that if the UAA is bluntly' followed for the determination of property tax in Kolkata, taxes of the middle class and lower income groups will increase, making it difficult for the Trinamool Congress-led civic board to adopt the new method.
Out of compulsion, the new civic board has decided to exempt slums from the new list. After former mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who is now the chairman of the KMC advisory committee, asked the civic authorities to keep in mind the hardships of common men since the new method of taxation could prove detrimental for them, the civic top brass has stressed on giving relief to the financially backward people.
Speaking at an interaction meet at Town Hall on Monday, mayor Sovan Chatterjee made it clear that under no circumstances will the Trinamool board impose the tax on the poor and the middle class. "We had assured the lower income groups that if voted to power, the Trinamool board would rationalise the present tax structure. We are committed to our voters and won't allow any hike in property taxes for the middle class and people belonging to lower income group," Chatterjee said.
The civic authorities have prepared a draft policy to determine property tax under the new method in consultation with experts such as economist Aviroop Sarkar, former bureaucrat Debabrata Bandyopadhyay and MMiC Debabrata Majumder, who is also a chartered accountant, among others. In the first step, the KMC has divided the entire city into seven zones or categories for valuation of property (A to G). Prior to finalisation of such categories, the civic authorities published a draft notification in the official gazette on July 30, asking for suggestions from citizens.
According to the KMC's gradation which was approved by the Municipal Valuation Committee (MVC), prime commercial and residential zones such as BBD Bag, Park Street, Camac Street and Alipore Zoo, among others, will come under the A category. Next comes areas like Shyambazar-Hatibagan, Alipore Road and Ballygunge as category B. Fringe areas in the north or south, such as Cossipore, Dum Dum, Behala, Jadavpur, Garia and some other parts of Tollygunge, will come under F and G categories.
However, as suggestions are pouring in from citizens to first clear the ambiguity in the zonewise taxation, the civic authorities are now busy calculating the tax based on amenities enjoyed by the citizens in the zones (A to G) as prescribed in the draft notification.
"We will soon publish a new list, which will be comprehensive. It will finally determine what will be the rate of property tax in the zones we have created. Then we will invite suggestions from the citizens before introducing the new tax system in January," a KMC official said.
