Draft rules ready for capital value-based property tax system

Over two years after it was mooted,the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has prepared the draft rules for the capital value-based system of assessing property tax.

Over two years after it was mooted,the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has prepared the draft rules for the capital value-based system of assessing property tax. The draft rules will now be put up on the website of the civic body for a month for suggestions and objections from citizens. The civic body hopes to finalise the rules and present it in the standing committee for approval in three months.

The BMC had handed out bills for the current financial year as per the old rateable value-based system,wherein the tax is calculated on the basis of rent a property can command,despite a government directive to civic bodies to switch to the capital value-based assessment system from April this year owing to a delay in data collection for capital value-based assessment.

Municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya said the proposed tax structure had been put in a simple language with necessary examples and illustrations so that citizens could comprehend it and then suggest changes. “We are in the process of assessing the capital value of over 3.5 lakh properties (40 lakh units) in the city on the basis of their use,construction type,age etc. We have not been able to include the exact tax amount in the draft as we are still calculating the capital value. However,I can say that the tax amount will be a small percentage of the actual capital value derived on the basis of the stamp duty ready reckoner.”

Kshatriya said they would try to finish the entire data collection and preparation of bills as per the new structure in six months and dispatch the capital-value based bills by April 2011. “Since the new structure has come into effect from this year,we will make adjustments in the next year’s bill.” The new system will include self-assesment by citizens who will declare their property type and the capital value.

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