The Hindu        21.01.2015   

MCC to crack down on undervaluation of properties

Revenue inspectors and Assistant Commissioners have been given one month’s time to assess all the 10,750 commercial buildings in the city. A random survey of a few private properties has also been ordered.— file Photo: M.A. Sriram

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) will crack down on undervaluation of properties under the Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) for computing property tax.

Revenue inspectors and Assistant Commissioners have been given one month’s time to assess all the 10,750 commercial buildings in the city to ascertain whether their declaration under the SAS was reflective of the actual built-up area. In addition, a random survey of a few private properties has also been ordered.

The issue came up before the MCC Finance, Taxation and Appeals Standing Committee meeting here on Tuesday where the members expressed concern over the undervaluation of commercial properties.

The meeting was chaired by the Standing Committee Chairperson Haseen Taj Saleem and attended by other members who pointed out that undervaluation of the built-up area was affecting property tax collection.

Under SAS, property owners have to declare the details of the built-up area based on which the tax payable is calculated.

However, there were complaints in the past even from some NGOs that there was no way of ascertaining if the declarations were true or if the built-up area was being undervalued. With nearly 1.76 lakh properties registered in the city, it is not humanly possible to assess each and every property by the MCC.

But, Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) G. Jagadeesh told The Hindu that random assessments would be done in case of private residential properties. But there are nearly 10,750 commercial properties all of which will be measured, he said.

“Those found guilty of undervaluation will be penalised and penalty collected from them for which there is provision under the SAS.”

The MCC has a target of collecting Rs.85 crore by way of property tax of which the corporation collected Rs. 65.5 crore as of date.

Property tax is the single largest source of revenue for the MCC, which is cash-strapped to provide civic amenities to the public.

The Hindu     14.01.2015    

Water tax arrears tangle for GVMC

Water tax arrears continue to saddle the cash-strapped GVMC so much so that they account for more than the current year’s demand.

Of the Rs.27 crore pending, arrears for 2014-15 are a whopping Rs.13 crore. Last year’s tax payment was poor with not even a quarter of the demand of Rs.16.5 crore being realised. The arrears are only from individual domestic tap connections that include below poverty line (BPL) families. The current year has better compliance with Rs.4 crore of the total demand of Rs.14 crore demand realised. However, officials who have decided to issue notices to pay up or face disconnection are now making a distinction between arrears and current demand. Disconnection notices are being issued only to the arrears of last year, Superintendent Engineer (Water Supply) Moses Kumar told The Hindu . Even those notices are issued to only assessments where the amount is more than Rs.5,000, he says. The individual tap connections are a total of 1.63 lakh. No interest is levied on delayed water tax payment.

Meanwhile, for some payments remitted at two eseva centres wrong entries have been made. As a result, those who paid the bills faced disconnection after GVMC began issuing notices, it was learnt. “It’s a software problem. Officials have taken it to the notice of higher-ups for a solution,” Additional Commissioner (Finance) S.S. Varma said.