Residents of Jayanagar launched signature campaign to revise property tax every five years
The residents in Jayanagar have launched a signature campaign demanding the BBMP Bangalore to revise the property tax once in five years. Currently, the 2nd Block Residents’ Welfare Association is leading the campaign, but soon more and more residents’ groups are likely to take part in the days ahead. The protesters say that under the State Municipal Act, property tax can be revised only once in five years. But the government envisaged the system of revising tax for every three years when it enforced the Self Assessment Scheme (SAS).
Home owners say that the majority of residents in Bangalore, who have built their houses borrowing heavily from banks, are finding it difficult even to repay the loans, let alone pay higher property tax every three years. “We cannot afford to pay higher tax at a time financial market is in recession,” say residents. More than 50 homeowners have already signed and 500 more residents are yet to sign before the letter is handed over to the authority.
The BBMP has been revising property tax every three years, increasing quantum of tax is frightening the homeowners, because many of them do not have regular income. A homeowner, who has built his house on a plot of 40×60 in Jayanagar, is currently paying Rs.15,000 to BBMP in property tax. The larger the house, the larger will be the amount of tax payable. And those who have recently rebuilt their houses on borrowed funds are indeed finding it difficult to pay the tax.
The Palike plans to collect Rs.1,100 crore by way of property tax this year. In the first two months of the current financial year, BBMP could collect Rs 27 crore, and as on April 30, it had collected Rs.1.8 crore from over 24,000 residents. However, property tax has become a big issue of debate in Bangalore over the past few years even as BBMP is grumbling about difficulty in carrying out developmental projects due to shortage of funds.
Source: Cityplus
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