A citizen’s group, Watchdog foundation, has written to the BMC, urging it to levy property tax on parking areas of shopping malls, IT parks and commercial establishments in the city. According to the foundation, the parking space in a building is not included in the FSI and is exempted from property taxes. However, malls and commercial establishments continue to charge an exorbitant parking fee, due to which people are refraining from using the services.
“Due to the high charges, many visitors park their vehicles on the road. This leads to traffic jams and accidents,” said Godfrey Pimenta, trustee and founder of the organisation.
Pimenta said, the BMC must levy some kind of tax on the open spaces outside the commercial establishments.
Meanwhile, civic officials claim that they don’t have the authority to levy taxes on open plots that are used as parking spaces by commercial places. “The municipal act doesn’t permit us to charge taxes on parking lots. The shopping malls pay property taxes and tax rate on revenue is levied in the form of other commercial taxes,” said an official.
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