With the objective of increasing property tax collection, which has failed to reach the desired target owing to tax evasion, the Vijayapura City Corporation has decided to adopt a modern method to augment tax collection.

The corporation has obtained a special software which will allot unique identity number to property and help in automatically assessing tax paid to the corporation by property owners.

Corporation commissioner Harsha Shetty, who has got the software developed, said that while the actual collection of property tax should be at least Rs. 20 crore annually, owing to various lacuna, it was only Rs. 9 crore.

He said that according to a survey conducted in 2006, the city had 96,000 registered property with 68,000 of having individual water tap connection.

“Interestingly, Hubballi Electricity Supply Company says that it has provided electricity connection to 1.6 lakh property. It means that there is disparity in the number of property. We have now decided to give unique number to each property, both authorised and unauthorised (not constructed as per norms),” he said.

He said that tax is being collected only from 65 % of the total property, while the rest of them have not been paying tax for years.

About the software, Mr. Shetty said that once data of all property is uploaded, it would be easy to get details of specific property based on the unique property number.

“Based on that, it would be easy to calculate tax paid or tax yet to be paid. We can ask property owners to pay tax if they have not paid it. In case owners continue to evade tax, then water supply could be disconnected,” he said.

Stating that the process is still under way, he hoped that the corporation would augment property tax collection with the new initiative.

The government will introduce e-payment facility in all panchayats for remitting property tax.

Governor P. Sathasivam, in his address to the Assembly on Thursday, said the facility had already been introduced in panchayats in Malappuram district and would be extended to all over the State.

In order to streamline and simplify the issuance of building permits, from Corporations and major towns, the government intended to use the software.

The Kozhikode Corporation had already introduced a web-based platform, `For the People,’ to combat corruption at all levels in local bodies. This would be emulated in other local bodies too. The government proposed to generate 1,000 mandays of employment under the MGNREGS. A new PPP model experimented for waste management by the Sultan Bathery municipality, if found suitable, may be extended to other local bodies.