PUNE: The revenue generation of the civic body’s property tax department on the first day of this fiscal dropped compared to its average income on the opening day of previous financial years.
The Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC) earned only around Rs2.5 crore on April 1 — the first day of the new fiscal. Every year, the PMC commences the new fiscal with an earning of around Rs 12 crore. The spread of coronavirus and lockdown seem to have hit the civic body’s revenue generation.
According to the PMC officials, the civic body offers discount to property owners if they pay tax before May 31. Discounts are also given to the taxpayers following environment-friendly practices in their properties, like usage of rainwater harvesting system, vermicompost or other green building norms. The discounts range from 5-10%, depending on the number of eco-friendly facilities a property owner uses.
“Many people pay tax on the first day of the financial year to take these benefits. This time, the picture is different,” said a senior official of the PMC.
The PMC administration joins hands with the postal department for the distribution of property tax bills. The arrangements are made in such a manner that the tax demands reach the property owners by April 1 every year.
The property tax department recently decided to send the property tax bills online. The routine offline circulation of property tax bills was stopped to make sure the bills reached the property taxpayers on time even during the lockdown period.
The bills were sent through emails and SMS. The citizens were asked to check the property tax website for getting the details about their property tax dues.
“The civic administration has been promoting the payment of tax through the online system for the past few years. It has been showing good results. Many citizens have used this facility in the past. We hope that this year too, the citizens will use this system in large numbers,” said Vilas Kanade, the head of the PMC’s property tax department.
According to the PMC’s data, the number of property taxpayers has gone up to 10.3 lakh after the merger of 11 villages in the municipal limits in October 2017. Nearly 2.5 lakh properties were added to the property tax net after the merger.
The civic officials claimed that on an average 50-55% property taxpayers used the online facilities. The tax can be paid through the official website of the PMC or mobile application or various payment gateways. Even the netbanking can be used for making the payment.
April 04, 2020
Comments