Bengaluru: The confusion over paying of property tax in the city continues with the BBMP's officers themselves lacking in clarity on the issue. Although Mayor B. N. Manjunath Reddy has announced there will be no zonal revision to lessen the people’ s tax burden, the civic agency's revenue officers are still taking it into account when collecting the tax, claiming they have not received any official word on its withdrawal.
A senior tax inspector said people being asked to pay the tax with the zonal revision in place on the promise that the excess amount would be adjusted against their tax next year, were reluctant to pay it and as a result there was a dip in collection. “We are asking citizens to wait until May 5 to get clarity on the revision. But this is not encouraging many to pay up and the revenue of the BBMP through property tax collection has gone down drastically over previous years,” he added.
Despite the many protests over the lack of clarity on various issues related to online tax payment, the BBMP has miserably failed to come to the rescue of property owners. Consequently many are still not able to pay arrears for their vacant sites and houses. And tax issues concerning newly constructed flats and ex-servicemen besides properties which enjoy exemption have not been resolved either.
BJP hiked property tax during its rule: Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy
With the BJP protesting against the hike in property tax, the ruling Congress on Monday pointed out that the guidance value-based zonal classification of taxation was proposed by former Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy in 2012, who represented the BJP.
Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy told the media that the BJP had proposed a hike of 15 to 30 per cent in property tax and had notified it in the gazette too.“The BJP has no moral ground to protest. It’s an open secret that zonal classification based on the guidance value was proposed by Mr Murthy in 2012. Even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had slammed the BBMP for maladministration and for not revising the taxes once in three years as mandated by the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act,” he said.
On the protest by the BJP on the floor of the BBMP Council, he said, “The Congress is against the deployment of marshals as we never wanted to send across the signal that the corporators are uncivil. But the way the BJP members in the Council behaved, it has become necessary to seek marshals.” Four former mayors of Bengaluru, K.H.N. Simha, J. Huchappa, M. Ramachandrappa and P.R. Ramesh, who were present during the press conference, submitted a memorandum to Mr Reddy seeking stern action against the four BJP corporators, including their leader Padmanabha Reddy.
