Despite the property tax filing period coinciding with the election season reaching fever pitch, the collection for April 2018 more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has seen around ₹1,360 crore being collected in April, almost halfway to the approximately ₹2,700 crore target (without cess) it has set for itself for the financial year 2018-19. By last April-end, the amount collected was around ₹533 crore, officials said.
The main reason being attributed to the sudden surge in the amount is simple: no extension of the time period for the 5% rebate, which ended on April 30 this time though there were complaints from sections of citizens who cited difficulties in the payment procedure.
“The filing has definitely increased because we advertised much earlier this time and stuck to our decision to not offer an extension on the rebate period. The logic was simple. From May 1 until now, we have collected around ₹350 crore. If we were to extend the rebate period to cater to certain sections who wanted an extension, we would have to refund around ₹20 crore after applying the 5% rebate for the late-payers,” said an official.
Of the 16.35 lakh properties under BBMP limits, property tax for around 8 lakh properties has been paid, he added.
In addition to the non-extension of the rebate period, the other measure that worked this time was shifting the collection process to banks. “This way, despite most of our staff being involved in election work, people could still get the offline process done as everything from collecting the challan to paying the tax amount happened in banks,” added the official.
Other officials also pointed out that the online process too had been streamlined. As much as ₹400 crore has been paid online by citizens.
The BBMP has, over consecutive financial years, missed the bus as far as collecting the targeted property tax amount is concerned. Last financial year, it had collected ₹2,177.83 crore of the ₹2,700 crore target.