You may have to pay more property tax if new proposal not cleared before March 20

Following opposition from Congress corporators in the civic standing committee, the proposal to approve the new calculation of property tax was pushed to Thursday, when a special meeting has been called to discuss the issue.

For the new formula to be applicable from April 1, it needs the standing committee's nod before getting approved by the civic general body and the process has to be completed before March 20, after which it will be sent to the state government.

If this doesn't happen, there will be an increase of 27% on the property tax collected, instead of the 14% proposed under the new formula. The new formula proposes to collect property tax on the carpet area of a unit instead of the earlier built-up area.

Leader of House Trushna Vishwasrao slammed the opposition saying they don't care about Mumbaikars' welfare and are deliberately delaying the proposal. "If the proposal is not cleared by March 20, residents will have to pay more property tax," Vishwasrao said.

Defending their stand to postpone the discussion, Congress corporator Pravin Chheda said they had got the proposal last night and hence were not able to study it properly. "The ruling alliance is trying to clear the proposal in a rush now that the deadline is approaching. Why were they sitting on it for so many months?" Chheda asked.