Mumbai: The BMC has collected Rs 3,147 crore as property tax for 2023-24 (till 7pm March 31). However, the delay in sending bills, legal complexities over new methods of tax calculation and no hike in the last five years has resulted in the lowest property tax collection in the past eight years, said the civic sources.
The bills were sent to the taxpayers on February 27. So, the assessment and collection department could get only a month to collect the revenue. Since property tax is the important source for providing funds for infrastructure projects, the civic body set a target to collect at least 70% of revenue by March 31. Considering the delay in sending bills, the BMC allowed citizens to pay their property tax by May 25, without a late fee of 2% interest per month.
Meanwhile, to achieve the target, the list of big defaulters owing a larger sum of pending property taxes was released on the BMC's website. The facilitation centres in BMC headquarters and at the 24 administrative wards were kept open for taxpayers from 8 am to 10 pm in the last four days. This strategy helped the civic body to collect Rs. 3,147 crores of property tax in a month. However, the shortfall of Rs. 1,300 crore will be reflected in the fiscal year 2023-24. The revenue collected from April 1, will be added in the new financial year," said the civic official.
Property tax has been the second-highest revenue source of the BMC. However, this revenue source has seen a decline in the past few years. The property tax bills are sent by July for every financial year.
The bills were sent with a 20% hike in December 2023. However, after receiving flak from the citizens, the BMC withdrew earlier bills and a fresh bill with no hike was sent in last month.
