The state government has decided to not give a total waiver in property tax on the lines of exemptions given in Mumbai and owners of houses under 500sqft areas in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits will have to continue paying their property tax as is.
The announcement was made in the monsoon session of the state assembly on Thursday. “The state has already given a 40% tax discount to property owners in PMC. Complete waivers in tax for a segment will cause a huge loss of revenue to the civic administration,” said Uday Samant, cabinet minister, while replying to questions raised by an MLA.
The state assembly in both houses gave a final nod to a 40% tax discount for self-occupied properties on Thursday. Additionally, the issue of providing exemptions to smaller houses was discussed again, but found no favour.
Ravindra Dangekar, an MLA of Kasba Peth, urged the assembly for total tax exemption for smaller residences. “Other municipal corporations, like BMC, have allowed such rebates. Residents of PMC areas should get similar benefits.” Other MLAs from Pune supported the demand. The state said if the demand for total exemption in property taxes for small houses is approved, the civic administration will lose around Rs 400 crore revenue.
Meanwhile, PMC areas have around 12 lakh properties, which will all benefit from the approval of the 40% tax waiver. It may be noted that after the floods in Pune in the 1970s, the state had allowed the affected property owners to pay 40% lesser tax. However, this was disallowed in 2019. PMC had started to distribute bills with increased tax as arrears. This had led to protests. As per the state’s notification in May, properties which were registered after 2019 and did not get the benefit of discount will be assessed.
