23 January,2021 07:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Chetna Sadadekar
The BMC was supposed to revise the rates last year, but had to postpone it by a year due to the pandemic. Representation pic
With the financial situation grim, the BMC is considering revising the Property Tax rates in the upcoming fiscal year - FY 2021-22. The civic body was supposed to revise the rates last year, but had to postpone it by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation awaits a court judgement related to a component in the new rules implemented in 2012. It plans to go ahead and revise the rates as soon as the order is here. Mumbaikars might then have to cough up an additional 10 to 18 per cent while paying their property tax.
The revision
The BMC's standing committee in 2012 approved a revision in the property tax rates every five years, along with a shift from the rateable value-based system to the capital value-based system. As the capital value-based regime was imposed with retrospective effect from 2010, the next revision was brought in 2015, which is still ongoing.
As per the revised rules in 2015, the formula to calculate the capital value of the property, which determines your property tax, was revised by changing some of the major factors. One of the factors was that the capital value of your property was determined by taking into account the carpet area of your flat instead of the built-up area. The shift in the system from rateable to capital value was challenged in the court.
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Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velarasu, said, "We are waiting for the judgement. Once it comes, we will revive our property tax rates accordingly and look at increasing the income source in some way." However, civic sources said they are sceptical that a sanction would be given to implement an additional tax burden in the election year, with the people already troubled financially. The civic body election will be held next year. In the current fiscal year, the BMC has so far collected hardly Rs 1,200 crore in property taxes whereas the expected target was over Rs 5,000 crore till March end.
