After collecting a record property tax collection of more than Rs.750 crore, the GHMC has announced its intent to go after the chronic defaulters of about five lakh property owners. At the same time, the top brass also promised to ‘incentivise’ early tax payers.
A rebate of five per cent property tax was to be given to citizens paying the entire year amount before April 30 as per the proposed changes to the GHMC Act by the Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department.
Officials clueless
But, with less than 10 days left for the month to end, municipal officials have no clue about the status of the incentive or even whether the changes to the Act have been made or not.
Earlier, it was announced that the amendments to the Act would be passed during the ongoing budget session of the Legislative Assembly.
Uncertainty over bill passage
None in senior positions is able to say whether the bill cleared by the Cabinet has been passed or not.
“We have to find out. Even otherwise, we can announce any tax incentive to the early birds after a government order is issued through a gazette notification,” say senior officials.
They were also not sure whether the incentive time line would be extended beyond April end.
“Usually, any deadline comes into effect only after we have issued the demand notice for the year. Since, we are in the process of issuing demand notices from next month only, there is a chance of the incentive being made applicable for June end,” they claim.
Citizens in a fix
However, the officials are not willing go on record and want to wait till Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu returns from his China trip. In the meantime, citizens have been calling up newspaper offices enquiring about the tax incentive.
“We read about the five per cent rebate for early tax payers. Is it on?” wondered Herman Papali.
A time limit of 90 days from the commencement of half year for payment of property tax without levying a simple interest and 100 per cent tax penalty on unauthorised constructions are also among the proposed changes.
