The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) may not collect property tax during this fiscal year on par with the financial year 2019-20 due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The property tax collected till September 14, 2020 during this fiscal is Rs 1,916 crore as against around Rs 2,000 crore property tax collected during the same period last fiscal.
On Monday, BBMP administrator Gaurav Gupta held a meeting with BBMP Joint Commissioners and other officials and directed them to focus on generating resources for the civic body. The administrator has also advised the officials to prepare a list of defaulters.
If the data available on the property tax collection is any indication, it seems that the civic body did not succeed to reach the target of property tax collection which is the main source of income. For example, the BBMP had fixed the target collecting property tax at Rs 3,300 crore for 2017-18 but ended up collecting only Rs 2,133.25 crore.
The target was the same for 2018-19 but BBMP collected Rs 2,545.59 crore. For 2019-20, the target was Rs 3,500 crore but the collection was Rs 2,668.97 crore. “We have not fixed the target of collecting property tax for the year 2020-21. Till date, we collected around Rs 100 crore less during the corresponding period last year,’’ said a BBMP official.
Many property owners opine that it would be difficult for those, who did not pay the property tax by May 31, 2020, to pay tax due to lack of revenue. “I have lost the job. Tenants have vacated. I may not be able to pay the property tax this year. I have to pay the property tax with penalty next year,” said Muralidhar N, a resident of K R Puram.
Meanwhile, CA N Nityananda, Chairman of Central Tax Committee of FKCCI, said that not many property owners have no money to pay tax. “The pandemic has left many dry and BBMP should offer a 50 per cent rebate,’’ said Nityananda.
