After seven years, the property tax rates have been revised. The new rates will come into effect from the next financial year.
According to Kumar Pushkar, BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Finance), the property tax rates under the Unit Area Value (UAV) system have been hiked by 20 per cent for residential properties and 25 per cent for non-residential properties.
“The decision was taken during the tenure of the administrator and sent to the government for concurrence. The government is expected to issue a gazette notification soon,” he said.
Stating that the decision was taken keeping in view the BBMP’s poor finances, he said that the civic body had also reorganised the tax zones. There are six tax zones in the city, with areas under A zone paying the highest.
“After the reorganisation, the areas in the lower tax zones will come under the next highest zone… i.e. areas under F zone will come under E zone, those under E may fall under D zone and so on.”
Pointing out that tax revision was essential, he said that the according to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, rates have to be revised after every three years.
The Comptroller and Auditor General sought an explanation for the same since property tax rates had not been revised since 2008-09.
The non-revision was earlier attributed to “political reasons”.
The proposal for tax revision was sent several times to the previous council (2010-15) when the BJP was in power, but was deferred every time. With the Congress-JD(S) coalition in power in the BBMP council now, the opposition BJP has objected to the move.
Next year, citizens may be able to pay their property tax using their mobile phones. The BBMP is in the process of developing an app (mobile application) through which citizens will be able to interact with the civic administration better. Senior officials told The Hindu that the tender is ready and would be floated soon. “By the next fiscal, we hope to launch the mobile app. With many people owning smart phones, this app will help them not just pay taxes, but also complain about deficiency in service,” the official added.
