GHMC to up tax on state offices

Hyderabad: Starved for funds, the GHMC has for the time being shifted its focus from residential and commercial buildings to government structures and plans to increase the property tax of state-run agencies.

The GHMC serves lakhs of central and state government properties, but these properties are not being taxed as per the specifications. Now, GHMC officials plan to inspect and improve the revenue from these sources.

GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said, “The GHMC had taken up property tax revision in 2002 and since then, the same tax is being continued. There is every need to inspect all the buildings for reassessment so that we get the maximum revenue. At present, there are 5,42,990 properties that have been assessed for tax and they yield Rs 1,200 crore per year.”

Mr Janardhan Reddy said that recently, a survey was carried out for 60,613 households. Of these, 26,219 households were inspected and the tax revised. “This exercise generated Rs 14.34 crore additional tax. If all the 5,42,990 properties are surveyed, we expect at least 50 per cent of these properties to generate another Rs 100 crore in taxes.” Also, the GHMC plans to improve revenue from trade licences. Till now, it has issued 1.40 lakh licences, and officials say about a lakh of these licences are due for renewal.