Maharashtra govt gives nod to BMC proposal to not hike tax, but deadline to pay stays

After much chaos over an unannounced property tax hike in December last year, the state cabinet, on Monday, gave its nod to not hike property tax for this financial year. BMC officials are still awaiting the governor's sign on the ordinance and only then will the revised property tax bills be uploaded online. The physical copies will take another two to three weeks for distribution. But, the BMC is unwilling to push the deadline to pay bills.

The state government said on Monday that the BMC administration was under pressure from taxpayers and public representatives to issue final bills as per the Supreme Court decision in the assessment case. "The revised property tax bills will have to be issued after the BMC Act, 1888, is amended. Instead of revising the capital value [of property] for 2023-24, the government has decided to give relief to property taxpayers in Mumbai. An ordinance to this effect will be promulgated soon," said a statement from the CMO.

As per the rules, property tax rates are hiked every five years. It was due to be hiked in 2020-21. When that did not happen, a nod was required every year from the state government to not hike it and the approval generally comes within the first six months of the financial year. However, this year, the BMC didn't send any proposal to not raise tax and instead started uploading online bills in the last week of December with an announced hike of 15-20 per cent. The move drew criticism from citizens and the BMC immediately withdrew it on December 30, assuring that revised bills will be sent with the same amount as last year, i.e. 2022-23.

The BMC sent in a request two weeks ago and deputed an officer to get sanction by filing all required documents. A senior civic official said, "We now need the governor's sign on the ordinance. We have kept the revised bills ready. As soon as we receive the ordinance, we will upload the bills immediately. The deadline to pay bills is before March-end."

In its 2023-24 budget, the BMC proposed a 16 per cent hike in property tax to increase revenue and estimated that it would result in an additional Rs 6,000 crore. Now the revised estimate is Rs 4,500 crore. And, in the next financial year, the income estimated from property tax is Rs 4,950 crore.

Rs 4,950 cr
Estimated income from property tax in next FY