The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in Maharashtra has raked in Rs100 crore as property tax, nearly 10% of its target annual revenue for this fiscal, in just 40 days of the new financial year of 2023-24, municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar informed.
The collections are also nearly 10 times more than what was collected in the same period last fiscal, officials said.
Experts attributed the rise in tax collections to the overall positive approach in the city, thanks to heightened focus on citizen initiatives and beautification works undertaken by the administration.
“We had set a property tax target collection of Rs1,000 crore for this fiscal year. We had appealed to the residents to pay their taxes on time and they have responded. Our property tax collection reached Rs 100.8 crore by May 10. Last year, till the same date, our collections were a measly Rs 11.4 crore. The number of properties brought under the tax ambit has also seen a rise this year seeing a rise from 6,415 last year to 74,908 this year,” said Bangar.
Bangar said 51.25% of the citizens have availed of the online facility to pay the tax. “33 per cent of taxpayers have paid tax through cheque. The tax payment rate in cash has now come down to 8.8 per cent. Also, the highest tax payment of Rs 36.19 crore has been made in the Majiwada-Manpada area. While the lowest tax payment of Rs 2.54 crore is in the Mumbra area,” he added.
One of the initiatives that helped the corporation rake in good moolah was timely disbursal of tax bills. “Till last year, bills were generated and issued by May end but this year we preponed it to April. Also, we opened up new online windows for tax payments on the very first day of the fiscal which may have encouraged taxpayers to start paying taxes. Many who were hesitant to stand in queues supported this online scheme,” he added. Meanwhile, activists cheered that the corporation has received good earnings from residents but also reminded that the administration must now intensify their focus on improving basic needs for the citizens.
“Thane city especially Ghodbunder road and Diva, Mumbra suburbs are spending money due to water scarcity since the last several years while bad roads is also a frequent complaint in the city. We now expect the corporation to make appropriate allocations on these fronts and provide better living conditions and good value for tax money of the citizens,” a city resident said.
