Mumbai property tax opposed by residents
Residents of housing societies in Mumbai are planning to stage a dharna and one day hunger strike at Azad Maidan to protest the new property tax system.
The major concern of the residents lies with the ground realities which affects a property’s price, are not taken into consideration in the ready-reckoner rates. They claim it is where the major fault in the system lies.
The new method of calculating tax and the transition was aimed at reforming the current municipal tax system, due to which a major cause for concern has risen.
Furthermore, the senior citizens are even concerned about the receipt of huge property tax bills with retrospective effect from April 2010.
Around 40 NGOs and 35,000 housing societies under the banner ‘The Watchdog’ have planned for the same. The strike is planned at Azad Maidan before the assembly session ends in April.
Many NGOs have said that they want the civic body to revert back to the old system of calculating property tax as the new one is not going well with the residents.
One of the NGOs has claimed that there has been change in numbers in the property tax levied on flats in western suburbs and the island city. The representative claimed that a resident living in a 300 sqft flat in Marol paid Rs 13,977 as property tax annually while another owner of a 10,000 sq ft-flat in Colaba with a valuation of Rs 12.74 crore paid only Rs 5,200 which can not be possible.
The citizens feel that the base value which BMC has considered to calculate capital value of a property is faulty. It is linked to the ready-reckoner rate which is decided by the state government’s town planning department.
The process of deciding a ready-reckoner includes clubbing of 400-500 types of plots and are given a uniform rate. The price of a property in Mumbai is dependent on factors like type of construction, facilities and amenities, surroundings (proximity to airport, railway tracks) and noise pollution.
Advanced Locality Management and Networking Action Committee (ALMANAC), Chembur have said that they will move court with the help of residents of Marol. They feel paying an extra amount as tax is totally unacceptable.
The residents claim that the new property tax formula prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is faulty and is not at all acceptable.
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