With an eye on BMC elections, Mumbaikars will have been spared from hike in property tax for another one year. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday announced in the state assembly that he has directed the BMC Commissioner not to revise the property tax as demanded by a number of legislators from the ruling and opposition parties.
‘’BMC generally revises the property tax after five years. In view of the coronavirus pandemic the property tax was not increased in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Several legislators from Mumbai made a representation to me and pleaded that the property tax should not be increased for another year. Considering their request, I have directed the BMC Commissioner not to increase it for another year,’’ said Shinde. CM’s announcement was welcomed by ruling and opposition legislators especially from Mumbai thumping benches.
Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu (from Thackeray faction) urged the CM to waive property tax for last two years. However, CM reiterated that there will not be rise in property tax for another year.
BMC in its budget for 2022-23 has set a target of property tax collection of Rs 7,000 crore. The civic body could collect property tax of more than Rs 5,792 crore in 2021-22 against its own target of Rs 5,400 crore. BMC will have to forgo Rs 462 crore due to property tax waiver for about 1.6 million citizens living in homes below 500 sq ft.
Property tax is one of the primary sources of revenue for the civic body. As per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, property tax in the city is revised every five years. It was earlier revised in 2015. However, it delayed a revision in 2020 owing to the pandemic. Despite the Covid-19 situation and a tax waiver on residential structures of up to 500 sq ft, the BMC collected Rs ,5792 crore as property tax in 2021-22. Compared to the previous financial year, the collection rose by 13 per cent, which is the highest in its history, the civic body claimed.
Shinde’s announcement is quite important especially when his camp along with BJP have geared up to defeat Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena in the upcoming BMC elections and thereby win the mayor’s post. BJP has already announced its Mission 2022 to now win along with Shinde camp 200 plus seats in BMC and end the monopoly of Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena
