01 January,2021 10:26 AM IST | Mumbai | Prajakta Kasale
A senior civic official says there won`t be an early bird scheme this year because of delay in collection. Representation pic
The new year is going to bring another massive challenge for the civic body, which is already fighting the biggest battle of 2020 - the COVID-19 pandemic. With a collection of less than 11 per cent of the targeted property tax till December 25, the BMC is lagging far behind this year compared to the last two years.
In the fiscal year 2020-21, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had targeted to collect R6,768 crore in property taxes. However, as of December 25, it has managed to collect R727 crore, much less than the Rs 1,637 crore collected till December 13, 2019, and R2,495 crore till December 2018.
The property tax targets remained almost the same for the past five years, but the officials still struggled to meet them. Towards the end of FY20, the assessment and collection departments were working hard, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city.
The BMC, which collects most of its property taxes in February-March, was able to collect only Rs 4,278 crore of the Rs 5,016 crore target when the lockdown was imposed in the second half of March.
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For FY21, the BMC plans to collect Rs 6,768 crore, which amounts to 24 per cent of its total revenue. FY21's estimate is way higher than last year's, but the situation looks bleak. The process of distribution of property tax bills is already delayed due to the demand for waivers.
The BMC has still decided to collect tax from everyone, but the bills have not been dispatched yet. Of the Rs 727 crore collected so far, around Rs 700 crore are from the pending bills.
"The printing of property tax bills are almost complete and they will be distributed within a fortnight. The bills for homes measuring below 500 square feet will be distributed afterwards. We cannot offer an early bird scheme as there is already a delay in collection," said a senior BMC official.
Property tax collection
Fiscal Year Tax collected
2015-16 Rs 5,702cr
2016 -17 Rs 5,128cr
2017-18 Rs 5,201cr
2018-19 Rs 5,316crs
2019-20 Rs 4,278cr
2020-21 Rs 727cr'
'Tax collected till Dec 25
