*Will not affect tax-payers drastically Finding it difficult to gain approval from political parties for the revised system of calculating property tax ahead of civic polls,the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now prepared a back-up proposal that will not affect tax-payers drastically and will,therefore,be more acceptable to politicians. Despite a state ordinance about charging property tax on the basis of the propertys capital value instead of rental value,neither the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the BMC nor the Congress-led coalition in the state government is keen on approving the new system that will lead to many an assessee (especially those in the island city) having to shell out more property tax. A senior BMC official said the capital-value based system has been further modified in such a way that only about seven pockets in the city will see a rise in the actual amount to be paid. We have made a presentation of the modified version to political group leaders and are awaiting their approval. We had expected the political opposition to the earlier proposal since the civic elections are just about four months away, he said. Standing committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Rahul Shewale said while they were not opposed to the switch in the system,they were against the drastic increase in tax of certain properties. The modified proposal is more acceptable to us since the abnormal rise seen for many properties,such as banks,commercial units and old chawl-type houses in South Mumbai,will be normalised. Luxurious flats will be charged higher. The overall collection of the BMC may be hit by Rs 100 crore,but it will at least reduce the burden on people, he said. According to the proposed system,the BMC is to calculate the property tax on the basis of the current market value of the property. Currently,Mumbaikars are charged according to the rental value of their property. Since a large part of the island city has old properties,the rents of which were frozen under the Rent Control Act,these properties were likely to see a surge in the property tax rates. Since suburbs have new constructions and higher rentals,the new system was aimed at bringing their property tax value down. An official from the BMCs assessment and collection department said the modified version reduced the rate of taxation so that the amount of tax can be brought down. We have worked out a way in which the tax of 78 per cent of the properties will remain neutral or reduce and 22 per cent properties will see an increase,though not drastic,in the tax amount. Our overall annual property tax collection of Rs 3,000 crore may reduce marginally, he said.
