The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) has brought an additional 2.40 lakh properties under its house tax net. The cash-strapped civic body has already started issuing demand notices to the owners of these properties, officials have said.
The corporation has also rolled out several concessions like rebates on house tax if the same is paid within a stipulated time. With these, the GMC hopes to generate an additional revenue of Rs 80 crore by the end of this financial year.
“House tax, as of now, is charged from 4.28 lakh consumers and in a recent survey, we have identified an additional 2.40 lakh properties which we are attempting to bring under the house tax ambit,” said Sanjeev Sinha, chief tax assessment officer of GMC.
“We are also offering a rebate of 10% on house tax paid in October and November. The rebate will be slashed by 5% if paid in December and January. We hope to generate an additional Rs 80 crore from the said revenue head,” he added.
In the current financial year, the GMC has, so far, raised Rs 113 crore while it raised just Rs 152 crore from house tax in the last fiscal.
The corporation employs annual rental value as a method to calculate house tax. The GMC provides for roads, electricity, water pipeline and other amenities in the vicinity of buildings and based on the level of services provided, the house tax is charged between 33.5% and 75% of the annual rental value from the custodian of establishments.
The GMC has internal revenue generation sources in the form of water, house, sewer taxes, licence fee and monthly rental. From April to September to date, it has realised Rs 108 crore. “With the festive season, we hope to see a rise in revenue, and it will take care of much of our financial problems,” said Sinha.
The corporation’s financial woes have been compounded by the fact that infrastructure funds, a major source of revenue through which agencies carry out development work, have not been paid by the state government in the last three years. The state government owes Rs 498 crore to the GMC under the infrastructure fund head.
This has led to a situation where the GMC is left to fend for itself and it is trying hard to increase its revenue through its internal revenue generation sources with limited success.
