Newly elected civic body rejects property tax hike proposal

The decision was supported by opposition parties including NCP, Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT). Leader of Opposition Nilesh Nikam urged to constitute a committee to address disparity in property tax across the city. “There has been discussion over disparity in property tax in the same area of the city,” he said, adding there should be a solution to resolve the long pending issue.

Bidkar said he would request the mayor to call a special general body meeting to discuss concerns of property tax across the city, mainly on the exorbitant tax levied on the properties of villages recently merged in the PMC jurisdiction.

The civic budget for 2026-27 will be presented soon and will see an increase in expenditure to meet the city’s demands. Revenue collection too has to increase to meet the expenditure.

Earlier, the civic administration had justified the proposal to hike property tax saying it was not done in the last eight years but the expenditure of the civic body was increasing every year. “All political parties in their election manifestos had promised property tax exemption for residential properties of areas less than 500 sq ft. Thus, it is likely that the decision will be taken unanimously by the elected body,” Additional Municipal Commissioner Prithviraj B P had said justifying the proposal of tax hike.

As per the civic administration, there are a total of 12,69,163 residential properties in the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), of which 4,29,245 have an area less than 500 sq ft. If the tax exemption is given for such flats, revenue from property tax will reduce by Rs 255.59 crore.

There are 14,92,803 registered properties in the PMC limits, with a property tax revenue target of Rs 2,556.15 crore. Among these properties, there are 12,69,163 residential properties, 1,67,934 non-residential properties, 30,675 open plots, and 25,031 mixed-use properties.

If the tax exemption for all properties with an area of less than 500 sq ft is applied, 5,24,822 properties will be eligible for the benefit and revenue collection will decrease by Rs 406.11 crore.