Rs 375 cr property tax collected in 1st half of 2020-21

According to a Corporation official, Rs 375 crore and Rs 225 crore have been collected as property tax and professional tax respectively between April 1 and September 30 (the first half of 2021-22).

“In total, we have collected Rs 600 crore as taxes. During the first half of 2020-21, we collected only Rs 381 crore,” the official said.

Between April 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020, the civic body had collected Rs 156 crore as property tax and Rs 225 as professional tax.

Another official said the property tax demand (current tax demand excluding arrears) for the first half of the year is Rs 320 crore. “The collection is greater than the demand as we collected arrear tax from huge defaulters. Around 30 per cent to 40 per cent collection are arrears from defaulters,” he added. It may be recalled that the civic body collected Rs 1,000 crore as property tax in 2018-2019 financial year, which is the highest one year collection. However, the withholding of property tax revision and COVID-19 pandemic affected the collection.

Meanwhile, the official said that the property owners, who pay their property tax (for the second half year) before October 15 will get 5 per cent incentive up to a maximum of Rs 5,000. Owners missing the last date would have to pay up 2 per cent penalty.