Over 100 central and state govt properties in the city owe Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation nearly Rs 300 crore in tax, but several notices and reminders later, the corporation is yet to recover the dues.
GMC’s chief tax assessment officer Sanjeev Singh said a central govt rule mandates municipalities across the country to levy service charges for services, like roads, water, drainage networks and streetlights, on all central and state govt buildings and installations.
“In Ghaziabad, 69 state govt properties cumulatively owe GMC a total of 162.55 crore in taxes. Of this, Rs 157.6 crore is yet to be cleared. Another 41 central govt buildings owe Rs 280.7 crore, but has only cleared Rs 139.6 crore despite notices,” added Sinha.Service tax is calculated based on the valuation of a building and a 7% tax is levied on the annual rental value, the official said.
“GMC provides roads, electricity, water pipelines, and other amenities, and based on this it charges anything between 33.5% and 75% of the annual rental value as a tax on an establishment,” Singh said.
Earlier, GMC issued notices to DMRC and NCRTC too for clearing its dues, but the state govt, through a GO, exempted both agencies from paying municipal taxes.
