Civic body pulls up its socks to achieve recovery target of property tax

Though the state government has asked the municipal corporation (MC) to increase the property tax collection by 10 per cent, the civic body is witnessing a slow recovery of tax dues during the current fiscal.

During the last five months, the MC collected Rs 8.26 crore in property tax. September is the last month to pay tax with 10 per cent rebate. Officials are expecting good tax recovery till September 30.

MC Commissioner Harpreet Singh has instructed property tax wing officials and Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFCs) staff to work on holidays till September 30 to recover tax dues. Officials would not take leave till month end, he said. The windows at the MC head office, Ranjit Avenue office and CFCs located in all zone offices would remain open on weekends and holidays to facilitate residents pay their property tax dues, he said. The municipal police would keep a check on the movement of cash from CFCs to the head office, he added.

He further said, “Despite Saturday being a holiday, the property tax wing has collected Rs 12.60 lakh tax today. In all, Rs 8.26 crore tax has been collected so far during this fiscal. Residents are also visiting CFCs to deposit tax.”

As per the state government instructions, it’s mandatory for all urban local bodies to show 10 per cent increase in property tax collection during 2024-25 fiscal corresponding to the last financial year in order to become eligible for 15 Finance Commission grants.

Earlier, the Urban Local Bodies Department wrote to the MC to improve its performance and devise a proper strategy to achieve tax recovery targets. Last year, the MC had set a target to collect Rs 50 crore property tax, but could recover Rs 37 crore only. This year, the MC would have to collect at least Rs 42 crore to get eligible for government grants.

Civic body officials claimed that in July, property tax collection was less as mSeva portal was closed. Officials claimed that they would collect more than Rs 25 crore property tax by September 30 (mid-fiscal).

Officials said they were going to initiate an aggressive awareness drive to make the public aware about rebate on payment of the property tax. SMS were also being sent to owners to pay their pending property tax, they said. Yesterday, the MC had collected Rs 32 lakh from 790 taxpayers, they added.

The field staff of the property tax wing had initiated a sealing drive of properties whose owners failed to clear their pending dues.

Recently, Municipal Corporation Secretary Sushant Bhatia issued several notices to defaulters and sealed six commercial units to press them pay their pending property tax.