Natural hike in tax rates should have been allowed: Abhijeet Chaudhari

KOLHAPUR: The revenue of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) through property tax would have jumped by at least 40% if the natural hike in the tax had been permitted by the general body, said civic chief Abhijeet Chaudhari.
The proposal to keep the rates unchanged for the next financial year will come up for discussion in the general body meet on Tuesday.
The corporators are likely to reduce the tax rates on commercially rented properties by 25% from 70%, which would lead to a loss of around Rs7 crore to the KMC’s exchequer, which will put a break on the expenses made on infrastructural works.The civic authorities are of the view that if the property tax on commercially rented properties is reduced, there is a need to compensate for the loss by either increasing tax on the general properties or be managed through other resources.
“The property tax is linked to the ready reckoner rates of the properties. The ready reckoner rates have increased every year since the capital value-based system for property tax calculation came into force in 2011. Every year, there is an increase of 8% to 10%, which means that there should have been a proportional increase in the property tax rates. However, we have not been allowed to do so. Presently, the revenue through property tax would have touched Rs80 crore, however we are only able to get much less now,” said Chaudhari.
The KMC has set a target of Rs64 crore to be generated through property tax for 2018-19. At present, it has collected Rs46 crore and may not be able to achieve the target. Since many years, the KMC is facing a shortfall in the collection by around Rs15 crore every year, since no new properties have been identified and brought under the tax net. Most importantly, the tax rates have remained unchanged for the last eight years.
“We are completing the survey of properties and have identified some new properties which will be registered for property tax. The revenue generated through property tax will increase in the next financial year,” said Chaudhari.