Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
To enhance the collection of property tax, the municipal commissioner G Sreekanth, has experimented by roping in expert GST officials and personnel to meet the target collection of the property tax, this year. Surprisingly, the collection of property tax through the GST pattern is yielding results and the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) is now receiving collection of tax between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 50 lakh daily.
The civic chief, who himself was in GST, observed that the CSMC has to struggle to collect at least
Rs 150 crore, whereas on other hand, the GST department collects 100 percent from its account-holders.
There are at least 4 lakh properties in the city, but not all properties are registered with the CSMC. Tens of thousands of properties are still out of tax ambit. Henceforth the CSMC always focuses on 100 per cent collection of property tax from the properties which are on its record.
As per the GST way, he mapped the properties zone wise. He prepared a chart of zone wise properties and deployed the staff accordingly to collect the tax. Hence the details about the outstanding details (propertywise) were available on a click of mouse. Besides, a list of property-holders on whom the outstanding property tax is between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh was made. They were served with the seizure notice. Hence the citizens started paying the taxes.
Earlier, the daily tax collection was Rs 25 lakh, but after adopting the GST pattern, the collection rose to Rs 45 lakh to Rs 50 lakh daily. The figures indicate that the collection of tax will improve again, said the sources.
The target collection of property tax in the current year is Rs 250 crore. The CSMC is also hoping to recover dues of Rs 100 crore. The status of current year’s collection of property tax till November 17 is Rs 78.80 crore. The collection figure till date compared to last few years is on a higher side, said the sources.