Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has collected Rs 365.49 crore as property tax in the financial year 2023-24 .The amount is nearly Rs 40 crore more than the property tax collected in the last financial year.
This has made the tax income of RMC rise by more than 90% over the last five financial years — from Rs 189.58 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 365.49 crore in 2023-24.According to RMC, 98% of all assessees paid tax in this FY. While 3.9 assessees had paid the tax in 2022-23, a total of 3.95 lakh assessees paid tax in 2023-24. The number of tax payers also increased as new areas were merged with RMC limits in 2020.
Of the Rs 365.49 crore, the civic body received Rs 175 crore through online mode. For the increase in tax collection, RMC gives the credit to technology. The civic body brought the entire tax communication system on WhatsApp. Tax bills were generated and sent to tax payers on WhatsApp with an option to pay it online.
“Earlier, we used send the bills by post and in many cases the bills did not reach to the right person. But now, the bills directly reach the tax payer on WhatsApp. This technological intervention streamlined the system and it increased the income,” said an official.
Municipal commissioner Aanand Patel said, “We had started an aggressive tax collection drive from the beginning of the financial year. We also formed zone-wise teams to ask the defaulters to pay up and we took strict action against defaulters by sealing their properties.”
RMC sealed a total of 2,151 properties, mostly commercial, for non-payment of outstanding dues and disconnected 193 water connections.