Palike intensifies property tax drive

The new year will not be good for property tax defaulters. The reason: The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which has intensified its drive to collect property tax will issue a special notice to defaulters.

The BBMP, which started the drive to collect property tax, has completed 80% of its property survey in the city.

According to BBMP deputy commissioner (Revenue) Chandrashekar, for the past two-and-half months, door-to-door surveys were conducted by the BBMP officials throughout the city.

“About 80% of the property identification has been complete and by another few days all properties will be identified. Complete information regarding the properties like site measurement and built-up area has been collected along with the photograph of the property,” he said.

According to BBMP, about 4.5 lakh properties have not filed the returns.

“We are sending special notice to the defaulters from January 1. They still have time to pay their taxes. If the defaulters still fail to pay, we have to take action against them. We will not hesitate to seize the property and file criminal case against the defaulters. We will publish the photo of the property in the papers,” warned Chandrashekar.

He said there are many reasons for people not failing to pay taxes. “Some property owners may be ignorant while others may be staying in other cities or out of country. Of the 4.5 lakh properties for which the tax has been paid, 1.5 properties are vacant sites,” he said.

According to BBMP, it has collected Rs950 crore from the properties. Last year, it collected Rs795 crore. BBMP has set a target of collecting Rs1,500 crore for 2010-11 and hopes to achieve at least
Rs1,400 crore.