The property tax department of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has served notices to 2.4 lakh defaulters with collective dues of nearly Rs 470 crore.
The NMC has directed the defaulters to clear their tax dues within 15 days, failing which, the civic body will start the process of issuing warrants.
The civic body has set a property tax collection target of Rs 210 crore for the current financial year (2023-24) and municipal commissioner Ashok Karanjkar has given a deadline of December 31 to the property tax department for meeting the target.
Accordingly, the property tax department has started taking actions against the tax defaulters. In the first phase, notices have been served to 2.37 lakh tax defaulters that owe the civic body between Rs 5,000 and above.
Maximum defaulters are from the Panchavati division of the civic body.
There are 59,961 defaulters from Panchavati with dues of Rs 124.11 crore. Meanwhile, the civic body has registered 25% growth in property tax collection during a period between April 1 and October 22.
The civic body has so far collected Rs 130 crore towards property tax in the current fiscal as compared to the collection figure of Rs 104 crore during the same period last financial year.
For the last financial year, the civic body had collected Rs 188 crore towards property tax, which was the highest ever property tax collection during the last 40 years of establishment.
As per the guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission, the civic body has to collect property tax amounting to Rs 210 crore. The NMC will get a government grant under the 15th Finance Commission only after it meets the property tax collection target. Hence, the civic body has taken a serious note on the issue of pending property tax dues with the large number of defaulters.
The civic body has over 5.3 lakh registered properties across the six divisions of the city.
