The Hindu  15.09.2010

Rosaiah to look into property tax hike

Staff Reporter

Decision expected in a short time, says TDP floor leader

VISAKHAPATNAM: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on Tuesday evening assured a delegation led by Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation Mayor P. Janardhana Rao that he would look into their plea for a rollback of the increased property tax.

“The Chief Minister had given us a patient hearing and said he would take a decision after discussing the issue with officials,” the Mayor told this correspondent from Hyderabad.

When told about the opposition to the property tax hike, Mr. Rosaiah said he was aware of the situation. Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju was present.

‘Positive response'

The Mayor led the delegation of floor leaders from the city after a prolonged agitation by the opposition parties which said the hike ranged from 100 per cent to 400 per cent and termed it abnormal. “We have done whatever we could do and the rest is in the State Government's hands,” Mr. Janardhana Rao added. The delegation also met Municipal Administration Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy who also responded positively.

TDP floor leader Ch.V. Pattabhiram said the Chief Minister responded well when the situation was explained to him.

The leaders brought to his notice that when the GO limiting the tax hike to a certain percentage were issued during the regime of K. Vijayabhaskar Reddy and Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy he was the Finance Minister.

The Chief Minister said that in view of a large delegation comprising so many representative he would consider their plea.

The MA&UD Minister was also quite responsive and assured the delegation that a decision would be arrived at after discussions with them. “We expect a decision in a short time,” Mr. Pattabhi said.

The delegation included MLA and city Congress president Tyanala Vijay Kumar, PRP MLAs M. Srinivasa Rao and Ch. Venkatramaiah, TDP district president Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, MLA V. Ramakrishnababu, urban president Peela Srinivasa Rao and deputy floor leader Palla Srinivasa Rao, Congress floor leader Behera Bhaskara Rao, Deputy floor leader K. Hanoku and CPI floor leader A.J. Stalin. The CPI(M) stayed away from the visit.

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.