BENGALURU: Good news is in store for property owners of Bengaluru! The BBMP is now thinking of rolling back the increase in property tax and asking citizens to pay taxes as per the last financial year. Earlier, the Palike had withdrawn zonal reclassification after protests by the general public and BJP.
To help the BBMP tide over its financial crisis, the state government had issued a notification increasing the property tax by 20 per cent for residential and 25 per cent for non-residential properties, besides reclassifying zones (based on guidance value of 2012) with effect from April 1.
Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy told Deccan Chronicle that after taking back its order on zonal reclassification, the BBMP is thinking of rolling back the property tax.
“It was during the BJP rule that the proposal for the hike in property tax was sent to the government. Only the official procedure was completed during the Congress administration. We do not want to earn a bad name and burden the public. A decision to this effect will be announced before the council meeting this month,” said Mr Reddy.
Not many property owners have come forward to pay the property tax, as there has been confusion over the amount to be paid and glitches with the online payment system. The Palike had earlier extended the 5 per cent rebate scheme from April-end to May-end after the technical glitches.
After rolling back the hike in property tax, the rebate claim period may be extended for another 15 days to ensure that citizens pay tax and enjoy the rebate facility too, the mayor said. Those who had defaulted on paying property tax earlier and properties that enjoyed 50 per cent rebate on service charge had no provision in the newly developed software for payment of property tax. Such property owners were made to run from one office to another.
