Nashik civic body slashes property tax target by Rs 100 crore
The cash-strapped civic body has slashed its property tax collection target for the current fiscal by Rs 100 crore. The Nashik Municipal Corporation had set a target of garnering Rs 253 crore as property tax in the current financial year. It has been revised to about Rs 150 crore now. Sources in the civic administration said the move to lower the target was due the dispute related to the new properties identified in a survey. Although the civic body had issued notices to such property owners to clear their tax dues, the NMC general body has directed the administration to undertake a fresh survey, saying that the earlier one was faulty. The corporators also alleged that the bills issued were incorrect in several cases. So far the NMC has collected Rs 92 crore as property tax in the current fiscal, which is 45% higher compared to the Rs 62.57 crore collected during the corresponding period last year. “We had set a target of Rs 253 crore considering the 18% increase in property tax for existing properties and the 62,000 new properties brought under the tax net. But there have been issues with the new properties and it seems difficult to collect tax from them in the remaining three months of the current fiscal,” said NMC sources. Meanwhile, officials said they would start taking stern action like confiscation of properties of against tax defaulters from January. “We will first issue final notices to the defaulters, giving them 21 days to pay taxes. If they fail to comply, we will confiscate the properties,” an NMC official said. The NMC had sent notices to 42,000 properties, asking them to pay taxes. But, 10,000 owners of properties had taken objection, claiming that they had been sent wrong bills. During the general body meeting, corporators had alleged that the private agency concerned had conducted survey of properties through students and not by a technical staff and that it has resulted in wrong assessment of properties. Consequently, mayorRanjanaBhansi had directed the administration to cancel the tax notices sent to owners of new properties and conduct a fresh survey.
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