In poll year, no tax hikes proposed

Vadodara: The annual budget for 2019-2020 proposed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) administration is a clear reflection of the financial situation of the civic body. The budget was devoid of any big-ticket projects and there were no tax hikes too.
The Rs 3,554.51 crore budget focussed on basic amenities like water supply, sewage management, storm water drains and housing. The budget size is smaller by Rs 174 crore than the Rs 3,728 crore budget cleared for the year 2018-19. The civic body is struggling with its finances and has been forced to focus on priority sectors.

The budget kept property and other taxes at the existing levels and even gave some respite to owners who have rented out their residential properties. Tax for the rented houses is presently calculated using a factor of 1.5 while that for houses occupied by owners is taxed using a factor of 1. The factor for property tax calculation of rented houses was also reduced to 1 by the administration in the proposed budget.

Municipal commissioner Ajay Bhadoo who presented the draft budget to the standing committee on Thursday said that using the same factor would simplify the tax calculation. “Out of the around 30,000 objections we received for tax calculation, most were pertaining to rented houses. The reduction in the factor would lead to a reduction of only around Rs three crore to Rs four crore. But with a simpler process, a major portion of this amount will now be recovered,” he said.

Bhadoo said the budget was close to reality and left enough room for planning for the future needs of the city. To keep the financial situation balanced, the works from VMC’s own funds were controlled.

It adds that to ensure that the development of the city was not affected capital budget works were being taken up using government grants or under the public-private partnership mode.