For representational purposes
BENGALURU: Although elections bring some obstacles to daily government work, there are also some incentives as well. A citizen realised it when he learnt that there will be no revision of property tax and guidance value this year also.
For seven years, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has not revised property tax. The guidance value of registration of properties was also revised last by the revenue department in 2019. BBMP and revenue department officials told TNSE: “It does not look like it will be revised this year again because of elections.” Stamps and registration department officials said that they had sent a letter to the government, seeking permission to undertake revision in February, but there has been no response.
Another request was made to excuse some staffers of the department from election duty, but there has been silence from that side.
“Property prices have skyrocketed after the pandemic across the state. Prices of private properties have soared, but the guidance value continues to be much lower. In some instances, it is one-third of the present market value of private properties. An annual revision is a must, but it is being ignored. In fact, in 2022 rebates of 10 per cent were given twice, to help people,” the official said.
Revenue department officials said that revision in guidance values was not possible due to staff shortage, and those who are working are busy with training and setting the system for the launch of the Kaveri-2 portal in June.
A senior official from BBMP said: “Ideally revision of property tax is also an annual exercise. But due to political reasons over the years, it was not done. It seems for next year also, it won’t be done. The government must understand that proper tax systems and revisions are a must to ensure high revenue collection. It also makes the government agencies better accountable.”
