Property tax: Amid high drama, BBMP beats hasty retreat

Bengaluru: Over 25,000 people paid their  property tax online on Friday even as the government backtracked on revising the  zones in the face of public anger over the steep hike in tax.

But those paying their tax before and during the weekend will continue to pay according to the revised zones as the process will revert to the old zones only on May 2.

“Even if citizens who pay their property tax over the weekend end up paying an excess amount, it will be readjusted against the next year’s tax. They do not have to worry about losing any money,” the BBMP assured.

Also, reassuring that the nearly two lakh property owners, who had already paid tax under revised zones , would be reimbursed one way or another for any excess amount paid, Deputy Commissioner, Revenue,  M. Venkatachalapathy,  explained that the BBMP could only adjust the amount against the following year’s tax, and not refund it.

The civic agency, which had hoped to generate an additional Rs 600 crore through revised zones and higher taxes, is now likely to incur a loss of Rs 150-200 crore without the revision in zones even though property tax will continue to be 20 per cent higher for residential properties and 25 per cent higher for commercial establishments.

Following the new changes in the tax system, the BBMP has decided to extend the offer of a five per cent rebate  by a month to May 31. Property owners will not  have to worry  about calculating the rebate or the additional cess to be added to the tax as the software is programmed to calculate both.

As technical glitches continue to prove a problem on the BBMP’s tax portal, the civic agency is doing everything it can to solve them.

Said Mr Venkatachalapathy, “the BBMP is working towards upgrading its tax portal. There are a few categories that need to be updated on the portal and people may come across some technical glitches. We have been working over the week to fix them. Starting Monday, people will be able to pay property tax without any hassles,” he assured.

Every year I paid around Rs 3,000 as property tax but this year I would have had to pay Rs 6,000 if the zones had been revised along with increase in the tax rate. Earlier I was in F zone, but was moved to D zone.  But luckily now there is no change in the zone— Subhash Resident of Nagasandra

I haven’t paid property tax yet because none of the officials are sure of what they are doing. There is a lot of confusion. There wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if this was well planned in advance— Devendra Resident of Peenya

We have protested all along for this and will continue to do so if justice is not delivered. The government has other sources of revenue that do not reach it. There is a lot of leakage in revenue. The BBMP must look into this. Increasing property tax is no way of generating more revenue— Umesh Shetty suspended BJP corporator

No change in payment method
Although the BBMP has withheld the zonal revision for the time being, there will be no change in the tax payment format

All you need to do is log in to the BBMP property tax portal, Palike Sampanmoola on its website http://bbmp.gov.in or directly at http://bbmptax.karnataka.gov.in , then enter your base SAS application number or PID number

After filling out the various columns, choose whether you are paying the property tax in one or two installments

If you are paying online, you can choose the online payment option by clicking “ONLINE PAYMENT” and make the payment using your credit/debit card or net banking

If you are paying by cash, DD, or cheque, click on the “CHALLAN” button and present the challan at your nearest Canara Bank branch to pay the amount

Four corporators suspended
All hell broke loose at the BBMP council hall  Friday morning as BJP corporators protested  the steep hike in property tax. Unhappy with the Congress government for merely withholding the revision of zones, all the BJP corporators trooped into the well of the House. What followed was sheer mayhem as corporators got into fisticuffs and even pushed mayor,  Manjunath Reddy. When the chaos did not end, the mayor suspended opposition leader, Padmanabha Reddy, Gangenahalli ward corporator

M. Nagaraj, Govindarajnagar ward corporator, Umesh Shetti and Bommanhalli ward corporator, Ramamohan Raju. But the BJP corporators decided to hold an all-night protest on the BBMP grounds demanding a complete rollback of the property tax hike. They are likely to be joined by senior BJP leaders like R.Ashok and Suresh Kumar.