To plug the leakages in the tax collection system, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has now fixed a target for the property tax department. The MCD has doubled the target and set it at Rs 3850 crore from its present tax collection of around Rs 2000 crore.
A senior official of MCD said this also means the corporation would be stricter in collecting its taxes and imposing penalties on defaulters so people are requested to pay their dues on time.
“We noticed that New Delhi Municipal Council, which is very small in area, collects around Rs 1000 crore in taxes. By this count, the MCD tax collection is much less,” said the senior official.
The NDMC has jurisdiction over less than 20 per cent of Delhi’s area.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had earlier advised that all properties within the city limits, commercial as well as residential, be brought under the tax net so that MCD’s incomes increase and it is able to provide better services.
Expressing concern over the fact that properties, commercial establishments, and people in as much as 65 per cent of Delhi’s geographical area did not pay any property tax, Saxena said that it was unfortunate, unfair and unviable situation. The L-G had asked officials to take the people and RWAs on board and address their concerns.
Presently, most of the houses in the unauthorised colonies, and village areas do not pay property taxes.
Sources in the civic body said to achieve the target, the property tax department would be tightening the noose around defaulters in commercial establishments and then residential ones. They said the MCD is also planning to collect taxes from unauthorised colonies and villages at a later stage.
“The civic body provides several facilities in these unauthorised colonies like garbage collection, park maintenance, drain cleaning, anti-mosquito operations for which a nominal amount is charged as property tax,” said another official. “For an average 2BHK house, the taxes would come around Rs 1000 yearly,” added the official.
Properties are divided into eight categories for tax collection in the capital – A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H – depending on their location. Upscale colonies fall in categories A and B like Golf Links, and Vasant Vihar, and localities such as Geeta Colony, Anand Parbat and Sheikh Sarai fall in the E, F, G, and H categories.
