BJP vows property tax waiver in city if voted to power

Shelar accuses Congress of inaction

BJP city chief Ashish Shelar

The BJP on Thursday promised to waive the property tax bills of Mumbaikars if voted back to power. A day after the Congress accused the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance of messing with the property tax bills of citizens, BJP’s city chief Ashish Shelar said all components of the property tax would be removed from the final bill.

“The process of issuing an ordinance is under way. We have altered the civic rules for homes up to 500 sq.ft. To waive the complete bill, changes have to be made to the State rules,” said Mr. Shelar responding to Congress’s allegations. On March 8, the State Cabinet approved an amendment to the BMC Rules, 1888, and two days later an ordinance was issued.

‘Political gimmick’

While the BMC has announced a property tax waiver for homes up to 500 sq.ft., Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora called the move a farce and termed it political gimmick.

Mr. Deora said, “The ordinance issued by the State government is a complete farce. They have just waived the general tax component of the property tax that ranges from 10% to 30% of the total tax structure. The proposal forwarded by the Shiv Sena-controlled BMC to the State government in July 2017 recommended that the entire property tax be waived. However, the State government waived just a fraction of the tax.”

Mr. Shelar said, “The BJP has said these components are indeed in the range of 10% to 30%, but they also depend on the water connection of the houses.”

He added, “The other component can be waived once the rules are altered by the State government. These components include water tax, water profit tax, sewerage tax, sewerage profit tax, State education cess, tree cess, and employment guarantee cess.”

The BJP city chief alleged inaction on the part of the Congress when the waiver came up for discussion in the Assembly. “Then the Congress legislators did not raise their voice,” he said.