Indian Express 15.04.2010
Property tax target missed, civic agency looks at course correction
Ayesha Arvind Tags : Property tax, civic Posted: Thursday , Apr 15, 2010 at 0224 hrs
New Delhi: After failing to meet its property tax target for the fourth time in a row, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is in the process of identifying and correcting the errors that lead to loss of revenue.While the civic body has admitted it received tax from less than 30 per cent property owners in the Capital, the agency officials claim lack of database is a major shortcoming.
According to sources, the MCD has no available record of the tax payers, except for that of around 3 lakh people who paid their taxes online this year.
Also on the list of problem areas is lack of manpower. Despite the digitalisation of all property tax records and the creation of a database of eligible property tax payers being planned, officials feel they have not been able to make headway as the department is grossly “understaffed”.
The MCD is now mulling a series of corrective measures.
The Property Tax department has begun the digitalisation of the manual tax returns filed in 2009-10. This will enable the department to develop a database of at least the 9.73 lakh tax payers who have paid their taxes this year.
The department also plans to begin a door-to-door survey — a project that has been in the pipeline for long — by the end of this month.
According to officials, the delay in implementation of this survey was due to the lack of Assessment and Collection staff. The department has decided to double its domestic breeding checkers (DBC) staff, meant to check dengue outbreak in the city, as survey conductors for getting information on potential property tax payers.
“The DBC staff is currently being handed their appointment letters for the survey. Once the process is complete, around 3,500 DBC staff will begin a comprehensive door-to-door survey to identify eligible property tax payers,” an official said.
Earlier, the Survey of India, too, began a survey for the state government to identify property owners in the Capital. While it has revealed the number of property owners in three zones, the programme has come to a standstill due to a financial tangle with the government.
While a mere 9.73 lakh property owners have paid their tax this year, owing to lack of records the MCD has been able to send notices to only 53,977 defaulters.
