The Hindu 16.04.2010
MCC to ask Government to clear confusion over property tax hike
Special Correspondent
| Representatives of NGOs meet Manivannan and Raikar |
MCC recently hiked the property tax rate by
15 per cent
Non-governmental organisations describe it as illegal and threaten to file a PIL
MYSORE: The confusion over hike in property tax continues to stalk the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) which has decided to write to the State Government to clarify on the issue.
The MCC recently hiked the property tax rate by 15 per cent with effect from April 1, 2010, citing the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act as per which property tax rates are automatically hiked by 15 per cent every year.
Meetings
Though the NGOs in the city described it as illegal and threatened to file a PIL against it, the MCC remained adamant despite a couple of meetings.
However, a group of citizens, including H.V.S. Murthy of the Taxpayers' Federation, M. Lakshmana of the Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM), and others met Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan and MCC Commissioner K.S. Raikar here on Thursday and confronted them with legal documents, forcing the authorities to write to the Government seeking a clarification.
Guidance value
Mr. Murthy and Mr. Lakshmana told The Hindu that the property tax under the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS) came into effect in Mysore on March 7, 2005, and the authorities used the prevailing guidance value to compute the tax rates and this should have remained constant.
Revised
But in August 2006, the guidance value was changed, though it had to remain in vogue for at least three years. But the Mysore City Corporation adopted the revised guidance value for computing the property tax with effect from January 1, 2007, which, the NGOs claimed, was illegal.
Anomaly
“We are not opposed to the hike the property tax which automatically comes into vogue once in three years under the law, but what is objectionable is that the guidance value itself was revised and we are fighting the anomaly and seeking to reverse the discrepancy that has crept in the computation of the property tax rates,” Mr. Lakshman said.
“In our assessment, the hike in property tax which was effected in 2007 based on the revised guidance value was wrong,” Mr. Murthy said.
The non-governmental organisations said that the Deputy Commissioner and the corporation Commissioner had agreed that there was confusion while admitting to their mistake and promised to write to the government seeking clarification on the issue.
Memorandum
Mr. Murthy submitted a memorandum to Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar, who is also in-charge of Mysore district, to revoke the hike in property tax brought into effect from this financial year.
Mr. Manivannan told The Hindu that the Mysore City Corporation would write to the appropriate authorities and seek a clarification from them to clear the air on the issue.
If property owners remitted tax at the enhanced rate and the government ruled that the hike was not in order, then the difference of amount would be adjusted next year, he said.
