On Tuesday, January 19, the municipal commissioner of Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave its approval to collect property tax from houses measuring less than 500 sq ft in Mumbai.
According to a report in mid-day, while the ruling Shiv Sena had pushed for a waiver for small houses, the decision was taken by the administration, as there wasn’t any amendment in the law at the state level for two years as a result of the deteriorating financial condition of the civic body.
Moreover, property tax happens to be the second-largest source of income for the civic body. However, it was able to collect only 10 per cent (INR 738 crores) till the end of December. According to the estimates of the 2020-21 budget, the BMC should net INR 6,768 crores in property tax, which is one-fourth of its total income. As per reports, there are around 4.20 lakh property taxpayers in the city, including 1.36 lakh who have homes measuring less than 500 sq ft. In addition, the BMC is to collect around INR 350 crores revenue from small houses.
In the past, back in 2019, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had approved amending the Property Tax Act to effect the waiver, however, the GR in 2019 only amended section 140 (C) of the Act, which caters to the general tax component, merely 10 per cent to 30 per cent of the total. Meanwhile, the current state government is yet to take a decision on the matter.
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