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Taxation

Civic body’s water tax arrears stand at Rs 27 crore

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 11:38 administrator
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Indian Express 20.01.2010

Civic body’s water tax arrears stand at Rs 27 crore

The water tax arrears of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation which now stand as high as Rs 27.52 crore have forced civic officials to take initiatives to recover the pending dues from the defaulters at the earliest.

Pravin Tupe, joint city engineer (water supply), said, "We have a target of collecting anything between Rs. 45 to 50 crore as tax this year to clear the arrears."

The civic body gets a lion's share of its income from octroi. It also earns substantial revenue from building permissions, property tax and water tax. PCMC earns an average revenue of Rs. 750 crore every year from octroi. This is followed by property and water tax. But, in the past four years PCMC has fallen short of its water tax targets which has led to accumulation of arrears, even dropping to less than half of the target in some cases.

In the financial year 2004-05, PCMC had a target of Rs 21.89 crore as water tax, but could manage to only collect Rs 11.87 crore. In 2005-06, the target was Rs 30.44 crore, but only Rs. 9.82 crore was collected. The gloomy situation continued in 2006 -07 when Rs 22.71 crore was the target, but only Rs. 8.09 crore was collected.

In 2007-08, the target was increased to Rs. 51.19 crore, but Rs. 21.89 crore was recovered. In 2008-2009, a target of Rs 46.24 crore was set, but even that was not collected in full.

According to the norms laid out under JNNURM, for any civic body to be eligible for getting aid, it should collect 100 per cent water tax. The water meter system which was re-introduced by PCMC has irked citizens, leading to non-payment of charges and thereby accumulation of arrears

The PCMC has now decided to run an awareness campaign to make consumers pay up.

"We are appealing to people to pay up their water tax bills on time. Last year we had collected Rs 38 crore, inclusive of the previous arrears. But we have not yet given a thought to the idea of cutting water supply in case of non payment."

Out of the total water connections, A ward has 27,396 water connections, B ward 21,399, C ward 26,280 and D ward 28,000 .

But this does not represent the true picture, as there are also a large number of illegal connections. Out of a total of 1,7,502 water connections, 1,4,499 have been fitted with water meters.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 11:49
 

MCD for property tax hike, but gently

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:21 administrator
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Indian Express 19.01.2010

MCD for property tax hike, but gently

The Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday turned down the proposal to hike property tax by a flat 5 per cent across all categories of residential properties.

This comes a day after the committee rejected the proposal to introduce professional tax for people with a monthly income of over Rs 30,000.

The committee proposed a minimal hike of 3, 2, and 1 per cent tax for residential property in different categories. It proposed a 3-per cent hike for categories A and B (at present taxed 10 per cent); 2 per cent for properties in categories C, D and E (10 per cent); and 1 per cent for F, G and H categories (6 per cent).

The MCD area is divided into eight categories, from A to H, with A housing the most upscale colonies.

For non-residential properties, the tax hike has been proposed at 5, 3, and 2 per cent, respectively, for properties in categories A and B; C, D and E; and F, G and H.

The proposals will be tabled before the MCD House. Once approved, they will then be implemented.

The committee also proposed an additional hike of 5 per cent tax for farmhouses used for residential purposes — up from present 10 per cent. Farmhouses used for non-residential purposes, which pay 10 per cent tax, would pay 20 per cent tax, it was proposed.

The Standing Committee also proposed a new 5-per cent annual tax on private power supply companies (discoms) BSES and NDPL. It also approved the proposed hike in tax for rented and self-owned luxury commercial properties — to be charged at 20 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. Luxury commercial properties — star hotels, malls, AC gyms, swimming pools and clubs, among others — are charged 10 per cent tax at present.

The new taxes, according to Standing Committee chairperson R K Singhal, have been proposed to generate additional revenue for the civic body, and to help “balance the burden

imposed on the Corporation by the Sixth Pay Commission”.

The Standing Committee also proposed a tax of Rs 100 on every cattle head brought to the Capital from other states. The tax, Singhal said, will be collected at toll tax booths on border points.

The introduction of sanitation charges was also proposed; through this, banquet halls, community halls and other such wedding venues will have to pay Rs 5,000 each month.

The proposal says these venues will also have to pay an annual registration fee ranging between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh, depending on their capacity. The charges will account for expenses incurred in “cleaning up” these venues after each function, MCD members said.

The Standing Committee announced that all aided schools will be granted a 90-per cent rebate on total property tax payable, if they pay in a single installment in the first quarter of the fiscal: April to June.

To expand its property tax net, the MCD also proposed to begin a new survey to identify all registered and unauthorised properties in Delhi, Singhal said.

Other fill-coffers plans
* Rs 100 tax on each cow/buffalo brought from other states
* 5% rise in tax for farmhouses used for residential purposes
* 10% hike for farmhouses used for non-residential purposes
* 5% annual tax on private discoms
* Monthly Rs 5,000 sanitation charge for wedding venues

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:26
 

Proposal to hike taxes evokes sharp reactions

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 10:24 administrator
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The Times of India 19.01.2010

Proposal to hike taxes evokes sharp reactions

Radheshyam Jadhav , TNN, 19 January 2010, 06:40am IST
PUNE: Municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade's proposed hike in octroi, water charges and other municipal taxes in the draft municipal budget of Rs 2910 has been opposed by political parties.

Zagade proposed a 22 per cent hike in various taxes including road and fire cess, as well as a doubling of water charge, in order to get funds to execute major developmental projects worth Rs 1,634 crore. Rates for octroi have also been hiked in the draft budget. The municipal commissioner said that if the proposed hike were rejected, the draft budget would face a deficit of Rs 377.87 crore which will directly affect capital works.

"We will strongly oppose any hike in water tax. Already people are reeling under the burden of a hike in electricity charges and inflation, said Aba Bagul, Congress leader in the PMC. "It is the primary responsibility of the municipal body to quench the thirst of the common people. The PMC has failed to fulfil this need in all parts of the city. How can they ask for more tax when people are not getting sufficient and clean water?" Bagul added that the Congress will discuss the 22 per cent hike at the party meeting and then decide on its stand. "We feel that there is a basic problem in the thinking of the civic administration. There are many administrative things that could be done to improve the revenue collection, but the civic administration is looking for easiest way by proposing a tax hike," said Bagul.

"We stand firm on opposition to any hike in tax," said Mukta Tilak, leader of the BJP in the PMC. "The civic administration should consider a plan to increase revenue collection by implementing efficient policies to collect property tax, octroi and other tax. Thousands of properties in the city are unassessed, there are loopholes in octroi collection. What measures have the administration taken to improve its efficiency? There is no point in hiking taxes when the civic administration has failed to perform its duties," she added.

Interestingly, in 2009-10 the general body of the PMC had approved the highest-ever budget of Rs 3,303.85 crore. The actual income of the civic body by December 2009, however, was just Rs 1,345.49 crore, of which Rs 1,157 crore has been utilised.

Ravindra Dhangekar, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) said that his party would oppose any effort to impose a tax hike. "It seems that the civic administration is busy planning strategies to extract more and more money form Puneites. The civic administration has implemented the pay and park plan recently when the traffic is already in a mess and now without providing basic infrastructure like roads, footpaths and sufficient drinking water the administration wants to extract money from the people," he said.

Civic activist Vijay Kumbhar said that the civic administration should introspect before proposing a steep hike in the civic tax structure. "Simple steps like increasing the property tax net could yield expected revenue to the PMC. Civic organisations in Pune will make a presentation to the civic administration on how it could increase income side without imposing taxes," said Kumbhar.

Standing committee chairman Nilesh Nikam said that the standing committee had begun discussions on the municipal commissioner's budget. "We will discuss all the proposed hikes in detail and then decide on the same. All sides of the matter will be discussed comprehensively in a series of standing committee meetings and only then will the final budget be presented to the general body," said Nikam.
 
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