The properties are divided into eight categories for tax collection in the capital — A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H — depending on their location. (File photo)People living across the national capital would have to soon pay property tax as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi would soon be conducting surveys of properties during which the nature of the properties would be calculated on different parameters.
A senior official of the MCD said that acting upon the observation of Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, the corporation will avail of services of a private agency to survey properties. This survey will include the number of floors, nature of property, whether commercial or residential, and if is rented or being used only by the owner. “This will help us know what people are earning from the property and form policies for collecting property tax,” he said, adding, “There are people who earn lakhs from renting out their property, opening PGs, but do not pay property tax in unauthorised colonies and village areas.”
L-G Saxena had last month advised that all properties within the city limits, commercial as well as residential, be brought under the tax net so that MCD’s income increases, and it is able to provide better services. Expressing concern over the fact that properties, commercial establishments and people in as much as 65% of the geographical area of Delhi did not pay any property tax, Saxena had said it was an unfortunate, unfair, and unviable situation. Presently, most of the houses in the unauthorised colonies, village areas do not pay property taxes.
The L-G had asked officials to take the people and RWAs on board and address their concerns.
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“The civic body provides several facilities in these unauthorised colonies including garbage collection, park maintenance, drain cleaning, and anti-mosquito operations for which a nominal amount is charged as property tax,” said another official. “For an average 2BHK house, the taxes would come around Rs 1,000 yearly,” he said.
Properties are divided into eight categories for tax collection in the capital — A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H — depending on their location.
Upscale colonies fall in categories A and B like Golf Links, Vasant Vihar, and localities such as Geeta Colony, Anand Parbat and Sheikh Sarai fall in the E, F, G and H categories.
The MCD earns around Rs 2,000 crore from property tax, and it is hoping to double its tax resources by increasing its tax ambit. The total annual income of the three corporations from their own revenues is around Rs 6,700 crore, while the total annual salary and pension expenditure for their combined 1,60,000 employees amounts to Rs 8,900 crore leading to a deficit in the budget.
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