The Hindu Karnataka (Mysuru) 07.09.2016
MCC finds discrepancies in property tax collection
-
collection drive:The Mysuru City Corporation has undertaken a property
tax collection drive and around Rs. 3.5 crore has been collected so
far.— file PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM -
Hotel in city recently made to cough up Rs. 20 lakh dues for four
financial years; Mayor Bhyrappa pans officials for laxity on their part
The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has found glaring
discrepancies in the assessment of property tax under the
Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS).
Inaccurate assessment
of property tax based on building area by commercial and domestic
properties may have caused a revenue loss to the tune of Rs. 50 crore
since the launch of SAS, said Mayor B.L. Bhyrappa on Tuesday.
MCC
has undertaken a tax collection drive and around Rs. 3.5 crore has been
collected since the launch. Still, property owners owe the civic body
around Rs. 90 crore, Mr. Bhyrappa said.
The civic body has also collected water dues to the tune of Rs. 5 crore, he added.
The
discrepancies in property tax collection were uncovered recently while
collecting tax from a reputed hotel in the city. A tax difference amount
of Rs. 20.21 lakh was collected from the hotel, the mayor said, as its
area had been wrongly calculated under SAS.
“Though
the property measured 51,272 sq.ft, it had assessed the size at 41,000
sq.ft. The hotel had been paying tax accordingly since 2013-14. We
noticed this and collected the difference tax for the actual size from
2013-14 to 2016-17,” he said.
Mr. Bhyrappa expressed
suspicion that many property owners might be paying less than what they
should with “wrong calculations” under SAS.
Random checks
The
Mayor said he has asked revenue officials to reassess tax collections
and randomly check the properties, mostly commercial ones, to find more
discrepancies, if any.
Blaming officials for causing
revenue loss to the MCC, Mr. Bhyrappa said he has brought this to the
notice of the MCC Commissioner for taking action against the officials
responsible.
However, the Mayor could not give
convincing replies on how property owners paying lower tax under SAS had
flown under the radar all these years. He just said, “I have appointed
zonal officers for property tax collection and to check discrepancies.”
Mayor says many property owners might be paying less than what they should under SAS
