After all the parties in the standing committee jointly rejected the civic body’s proposal to increase property tax rate by 14 per cent, the BMC finally proposed no hike this year as well.
While the corporators and citizens have welcomed this move, the cash-strapped BMC is expected to lose out on at least Rs 1,000 crore due to this.
The original proposal to hike the property tax rate was tabled before the standing committee this year in June.
However, the proposal was not passed by the committee then and was set aside. The Opposition claimed that it needed more time to study the document and understand its financial burden on the common man, amid the current Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Mayor Kishori Pednekar said, “The pandemic has affected the common man badly. Many have lost their jobs. Hence, we will not burden residents with an increase in property tax.”
Congress corporator and leader of Opposition Ravi Raja said, “The proposal was against the interest of the common man who has been affected badly by the pandemic. Even if the administration defends the decision by saying it is not revising property tax rates as scheduled every five years, it should not make a decision that will burden the common man. I have opposed the proposal since day one.”
As far as revenue loss is concerned, the BMC should look at another source of generation like advertising, estates or even recovery of the pending amounts from the state government, SRA and Mhada, which is around Rs 5,000 crore.
