22 April 2011: In spite of the govt. ordering the GHMC to hike property tax for the current financial year, the GHMC had decided to not to burden the regular tax payers with the hike. Instead it has opted to bring the defaulters, un-assessed and under-assessed properties into consideration and collect the taxes from them.
According to the present data of GHMC, there are 11.5 lakh properties in Greater Hyderabad, of which 6.50 lakh have already paid their taxes for the last financial year, 2010-11, amounting for Rs. 523 crore. The remaining 4 lakh property owners who did not pay the tax owe Rs.150 crore to the GHMC. But the latest census reports show that there are more two lakh properties which are to be brought under the tax net. Therefore, the corporation is planning to bring these 2 lakh un-assessed properties, through which it can raise about Rs.100 crore. The un-assessed properties include existing old buildings and new buildings which have cropped up under surrounding areas.
In addition to that, GHMC has said that there are another 1.5 lakh properties, which include commercial and residential properties on which minimal property taxes have been laid. This is due to the self-assessment tax schemes 10 years ago, hence, the corporation is planning to reassess these properties and lay new tax rules.
Source: Deccan Chronicle