The Times of India               27.07.2013

AMC speeds up property tax collection drive

AURANGABAD: Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) authorities on Friday decided on stern action against property tax defaulters and directed ward officers to seal at least 180 properties of defaulters every day in the city. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the civic body collected less than Rs 18 crore as property tax against its annual target of Rs 100 crore.

Shivaji Zanzan, in-charge of the tax collection department in the AMC, said that more than 60 per cent of commercial property owners had not fulfilled their tax liabilities. "Some of them have not paid the tax for more than two or three years, while some have skipped the due date of the current property tax. We will take action against all of them," he said.

Ward F officer V D Rathod said the administration has set a target of sealing 30 defaulting commercial properties every day in each of the six municipal wards in the municipal limit. Rathod said the sealing action would begin with immediate effect.

The department had generated tax demand notices for 1,87,223 property owners in the city in May-June 2013. Of these, about 45,000 are commercial properties.

A senior officer in AMC said that all the tax-payers had to clear their tax liabilities in the first quarter of the financial year. "The municipal corporation is now taking strong action only against commercial property owners. This is a major source of revenue generation for us."