BMC likely to increase property tax from next month: Report


Mumbaikars may have to shell out more from 1 April as the new financial year begins as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is likely to increase the property tax according to a report. The last time the property tax was revised was in the year 2015 and according to the MMC Act property tax in Mumbai is revised in every five years, however the sane was delayed in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, with just few days left for the current financial year to end, BMC has revealed that it was able to collect ₹4,762 crore in property tax amount since April 1 last year against the annual target of ₹5,400 crore.

BMC in February this year had revised it collection from property tax to ₹5,400 crore keeping in mind the possibility of another Covid-19 wave. Initially the target was fixed at ₹7,000 crore but later was brought down to ₹5,400 crore.

“The civic elections were supposed to take place during March this year, and keeping this in mind we had expedited the process of tax recovery from October itself. The advanced approach gave us more time to plan and work, resulted in increased collection at slower, yet consistent, manner," said Vishvas Mote, assistant municipal commissioner and in-charge of A&C department to Hindustan Times. The highest recovery of ₹2,362 crore was made from western suburbs, followed by ₹1,401 crore from the island city and ₹999 crores from the eastern suburbs.

Out of the 24 municipal wards in India’s financial capital, the highest recovery of ₹435 crore was made from K/east (Andheri East) ward, followed by ₹404 crore from H/East (Bandra east) and ₹396 crore from K/West (Andheri west, Juhu, Ville Parle).

Earlier, the civic body announced 100 per cent relief from payment of property tax for the flats measuring up to 500 square feet of carpet area. "About 16,14,000 citizens will get 100 per cent property tax relief. The amount of exemption to citizens is to the tune of ₹462 crore per annum," Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said in his budget speech.



Source: www.livemint.com