IMC mulling exemption of shrines from property tax
Unable to do recovery from shrines, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) is planning to exempt temples, mosques and other religious places from property tax. “Most of the shrines in the city are making no or very less income, so tax recovery is not possible from them. We are planning to exempt them from property tax,” said IMC revenue department incharge Suraj Kero. Thousands of shrines are located in the city. Of them, very few pay property tax to IMC. “Only those shrines, which are run by trusts pay taxes,” Kero said. Managements of the rest have been defaulting on tax with impunity. Nobody ever thought of acting against shrines for tax default as it would hurt sentiments of people. To avoid such a situation, the IMC would not bring shrines onto the revenue records of IMC. But during a survey carried out some years back, shrines were brought to the record books meant for property tax and subsequently their tax accounts were opened. As per IMC records, tax recovery from 448 accounts of temples and 101 accounts is due. “An amount of nearly Rs 3 crore is pending against accounts,” Kero said. A proposal for exempting shrines from property tax would be kept in a Mayor-in-Council (MiC) meeting, said Kero. He said that they would propose to exempt all types of shrines — those run by trusts and without persists — from property tax. He also stated that he would propose to waive off pending dues against the shrines.
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