Mumbai: BMC decides not to revise property tax

Property tax in Mumbai has not been hiked since 2020-21. File pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided not to raise property tax for the year 2024-25. Property owners in Mumbai will continue to pay tax as per the rate revision that was made in the year 2015-16. As per the property tax guidelines, the civic body is empowered to revise tax every five years, officials said. However, in 2020-21, five years after the previous tax revision, BMC didn't raise the property tax owing to the pandemic.

For the following financial year 2021-2022, the civic standing committee rejected the administration's proposal of a hike in property tax. Since then the state government has denied BMC the permission to hike property tax, an official said. As the civic House of elected representatives has been dissolved, the BMC administration has to seek permission from state government for permissions regarding tax hikes.

Though BMC could have sought permission from the state government's urban development department to hike the property tax, it has now been decided to hike property tax next year. BMC has decided to forgo its opportunity to revise tax in 2020-21 and it will now consider the five-year period from 2020-21 for the tax revision, which will be due in the financial year 2025-26.

"We have already informed the state government's urban development department about not revising the tax rates. We have requested them to validate our decision. We would start issuing bills to taxpayers once we get the response from the UD department," the official said. Next year, the property tax hike may be at par with ready reckoner rate. According to BMC estimates, property tax may rise by 14 per cent. The BMC which had set a target of R4,500 crore from property tax for the financial year 2023-24 had collected Rs 4,856 crore.