HYDERABAD: In spite of the current fiscal year coming to a close in a month’s time, the property tax collections in the Urban local bodies (ULBs) of the State remains unsatisfactory. To expedite the same, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department (MAUD) has assigned responsibilities to all the ULBs in ensuring 100 per cent collection of taxes and non-taxes by March 31.

Property tax, trade license fee and advertisement tax are the major sources of revenue for the ULBs. The same is used to take up various development works.

The Department has decided to constitute special teams and prepare action plans to ensure 100 per cent tax collection. Red notices would be issued to defaulting taxpayers. Officials have also been asked to identify the top 500 defaulters.

These chronic defaulters would be contacted personally by the Municipal Commissioners. In case they fail to make payments, legal provisions would be invoked as per the provisions of Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019.  With regard to government buildings, the District Collector is in charge of coordinating with the respective departments to ensure timely payment. List of both private and government properties would be displayed on the websites and notice boards of the ULBs.

Poor performance
The Department, which had carried out an analysis of the latest reports on the collection of taxes and non-taxes, said that several ULBs fared poorly in terms of property tax collection. Some of them have in fact collected less than 30 per cent of the stipulated target.

For residential properties, the actual demand set by the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) for all the ULBs is Rs 672.30 crore. The collection as of Saturday was around Rs 416.85 crore.

With regard to government buildings, the property tax collection stands at a mere 9 per cent. As against the demand of Rs 172.65 crore, the collection so far has been Rs 5.12 crore.

Officials said that the progress of all tax collections was being reviewed by MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao.