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Taxation

BMC moves to collect arrears of holding tax

Monday, 07 October 2013 05:31 administrator
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The Hindu              07.10.2013

BMC moves to collect arrears of holding tax

Staff Reporter

The Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities have launched a drive to collect the long-standing arrears from defaulters of holding tax.

According to BMC Commissioner Ajit Mishra, as per an assessment the pending holding tax arrears amount to around Rs. 3 crores. “We have targeted to collect at least Rs. 1 crore arrears from the defaulters before October,” he said. The BMC is now trying to increase its revenue which is on the decline.

According to a study, in 2001-02 the income growth rate of the BMC was 17.4 per cent. But during 2013-14, the projected income growth rate of this urban body came down to -3 per cent.

Notices issued

The BMC has already issued notices to the defaulters of holding tax in the city. As per the findings, some prominent citizens and business establishments of the city, including some hotels, are in this list. Holding tax of several old assets in the city has not been revised despite the fact that those properties have been remodelled with increase in plinth area. “There has been revision of holding tax of properties in the city in 2001-02 but for some reason several properties have not got their holding tax revised,” says Sangram Panda, the executive magistrate and slum development officer of the BMC.

At present the BMC has divided the city into 16 parts for proper assessment and calculation of holding tax. The regions of the city have been categorised as commercial, semi-commercial and residential areas for assessment of holding tax.

To increase income, the BMC has also initiated a special drive regarding trade licence. The BMC authorities have also found that 90 per cent of the trading units, shops and business establishments in this major trading centre of Odisha were not registered with the BMC and are not paying the annual trade licence fee. During the special drive to make all trading units pay the trade licence fee, the BMC has till date collected Rs. 58 lakh, while it had targeted to collect around Rs. 25 lakh from it, according to Mr. Mishra.

 

Property tax to save Amritsar civic body's reputation

Tuesday, 24 September 2013 09:26 administrator
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The Times of India             24.09.2013

Property tax to save Amritsar civic body's reputation

AMRITSAR: Finance starved Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) is now pinning hopes to fill its empty coffers by generating revenue through newly-introduced Property Tax.

Though the state government has reduced the Property Tax on commercial properties from earlier 15% to 3%, it has brought lakhs of residential units in its ambit.

"People should not consider the property tax as a burden but the money collected would be spent on providing basic infrastructure in residential colonies besides development of city," said Amritsar Municipal Corporation commissioner DPS Kharbanda while talking to TOI on Monday.

Three lakh properties including 30,000 commercial units in Amritsar with a population of 11.27 lakhs would now have to pay the property tax that would increase MC's income by up to Rs 60 crore per annum.

"The people have been given the right of self assessment instead of earlier government assessment," he said.

For the purpose the city had been divided into 8 zones.

Three-member teams would camp in colonies with online computer system and bank transaction arrangement to collect tax.

According to sources, in the past, various center government projects including those falling under Jawaharlal Nehrtu Urban Rurual Mission (JNNURM) were stalled due to non-availability of matching grant with the MC's but now these projects would be off the shelves.

Sources also informed that, earlier, several pending works including repair of roads of residential colonies, street light, etc, were not done due to paucity of funds but with collection of Property Tax, MC was hopeful to deliver its duties.

Kharbanda informed that the money generated through Property Tax would help MC to give matching grants for the developmental projects. However, owners of residential properties are not happy with levying of new tax.

"Why should we pay new tax, we have already been paying other taxes, it is the duty of the government to provide infrastructure in residential colonies, government has failed to generate revenue from other sources so they are making us victim of their failures and forcing us to shell out money to keep the government running," fumed Kashmiri Lal, owner of 250 square yard residential property in a prime colony.

According to reports, people who own 50 and 100 square yard house have to pay Rs 50 and Rs 100 respectively per year but those having houses above 100 square yard have to shell out anything between Rs 1000 to Rs 1500. 

 

BMC to have fresh review on holding tax

Wednesday, 18 September 2013 07:58 administrator
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The New Indian Express             18.09.2013

BMC to have fresh review on holding tax

A fresh review of a few selected buildings in the Capital city will be conducted to re-examine the holding tax  for these buildings.

BMC has assigned five junior engineers for examination of the buildings. They will conduct the assessment of the buildings whose holding tax may be revised.

BMC had recently evaluated the holding tax for the residential units as well as the commercial units. Sources in BMC said AG officials will reevaluate the holding tax details for more than 80 buildings in the City.

The re-examination is being done to gauge if BMC has assigned correct value for these properties or not. Based on the re-evaluation, the holding tax for these buildings may be enhanced or reduced.

The evaluation of holding tax for any property is done on the basis of the area and the location. The nature of use of the property is also taken into account.

Holding tax is the second highest revenue earner for the BMC which generates about Rs 20 crore. But the corporation faces a major challenge when it comes to revising the tax for the commercial and residential units.

Corporation officials face opposition every time they propose a hike in holding tax. A recent attempt by BMC to hike the tax met with stiff resistance. Eventually the High Court issued a stay order stating that BMC had not followed proper procedure for increasing the tax.

 
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