Panaji: The lone municipal corporation in the state – the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) – has whopping outstanding tax dues to the tune of Rs 50 crore, of which over 65 per cent is from house tax.
The pending house tax dues are to the tune of Rs 33.75 crore, followed by sanitation fees of Rs 6.52 crore and trade and occupation fees of Rs 4.70 crore.
In all, there are 26,448 units in the jurisdiction of CCP, which include commercial as well as residential units.
“Of the total 26,448 units, 22,146 are yet to pay the taxes. This number also includes those who have arrears pending,” a CCP official said.
The CCP has started collection of various taxes for the current financial year from April 1 and the last day for payment is June 30.
“After June 30, interest will be levied on the principal amount,” said a CCP official, adding, “CCP has provided the facility to the unit holders to pay taxes online so that they don’t have to physically visit and wait in the long queues to pay.”
“We will also constitute recovery teams to recover tax dues from the defaulters who have not paid dues till March 31, 2024,” said the official, adding that CCP also plans to send reminder messages to the defaulters on their registered mobile numbers.
“There are also a few government departments which are yet to pay the dues,” said the official.
In 2021, the CCP had decided to introduce the one-time settlement (OTS) scheme to recover maximum tax dues from the defaulters which would help CCP in payment of salaries and meet the expenditure on waste management. CCP had also made a proposal to the state government which was not accepted.
Aiming to plug the revenue leakages, a geographic information system (GIS) based survey of all the properties in the capital city of Panaji is ongoing to create a detailed database of all existing structures in the city.
“Once this survey is complete, it will help us in the assessment of all the properties in Panaji including residential and commercial. There are cases where extensions have been done to houses as well as shops and businesses. It will help in plugging CCP’s revenue leakages,” said the official.