The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been on a mission to collect property tax from defaulters and recover dues. In the recent update, it recovered INR 203 crores in property tax in the first 15 days of this month.
The fiscal year 2023–24 saw the BMC miss its revenue collection target of INR 4,500 crore. This was a result of a delay from BMC in delivering bills on time. Property tax is the second-highest source of income for the municipal corporation. Now, the BMC is urging property owners who have not paid their taxes to do so before May 25. Otherwise, they will be met with penalties and possible legal action.
As of March 31, the BMC had received INR 3,198 crore in property tax. These funds are crucial for the city's budget, particularly for its infrastructure projects.
To make sure that the top defaulters pay, assessment officials and the collection department are actively working. In the last 15 days, the civic body has identified more than 100 defaulters. The majority of these defaulters are housing societies and developers. Persistent follow-ups with these defaulters between April 1 and April 15 led to the recovery of INR 203 crore. BMC’s goal is to meet the goal from the previous fiscal year by May 25.
The tax bills were sent late because of legal complications in tax calculation. The BMC had to withdraw the temporary bills that had been printed with a 20% increase in December 2023. This led to a reduction in the original projection of INR 6,000 crore for property tax income for the current fiscal year to INR 4,500 crore. The residents were left to pay the tax in only a month, which reduced the amount of money collected.
Despite these challenges, the BMC remains committed to its mission of recovering property tax dues and meeting its revenue collection target. The next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether it succeeds in this endeavour.
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