If you haven’t been paying property tax over the last few years, be prepared to burn a hole in your pocket. The corporation shall now levy penalty as well as interest on tax defaulters for their unpaid sums.
The decision was taken at the first Board of Councillors meeting of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation held on Saturday. “We will send out notices to all houses in the corporation area. Salt Lake residents will continue to be charged as per the 1977 property valuation but defaulters will be penalised,” said Sabyasachi Dutta, the mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
Old demons
Tax problems are not new to Salt Lake. Houses here were first valued in 1977 by the Central Valuation Board which drew up the tax rates.
Then in the 1990s, the board conducted a revaluation and sought to hike the tax structure by 5 per cent. But many residents objected to this and Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) Welfare Association even moved court against it.
The litigation ended in 2007 with the Supreme Court terming the 1990s valuation procedure as “arbitrary and unscientific.” Residents had continued to pay taxes as per the 1977 rates while the case was on but after the court ruling, confusion ensued and since no tax structure was ready the civic body stopped sending out bills.
They began talks with Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) Welfare Association to arrive at a tax structure acceptable to both parties and arrived at a compromise in 2011. From 2012, they started sending out tax bills for the current year as well as the 2007-2011 gap when no one paid.
But many residents say they wouldn’t receive bills regularly and others wouldn’t pay. “We have been sending out tax bills regularly but around 30 per cent residents are yet to pay up,” said a corporation source. Penalty would not be levied thus far.
Land in Salt Lake is leasehold in nature but those in other parts of the corporation, Rajarhat and Gopalpur, are freehold. They will continue to pay taxes as per the 2005 valuation by the Central Valuation Board. The same rates would apply for freehold property in the added areas of Salt Lake, such as Sukantanagar.
Pay-up time
Property tax was the top-most on the agenda at Saturday’s meeting. “Property tax is an important source of revenue for the corporation and we cannot afford to forgo it,” said Dutta. “We will send out notices to all house in the corporation area. The tax rates in Salt Lake and Rajarhat remain unchanged and defaulters will be penalised as specified under The West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006.”
This act governs urban local bodies all over the state and prescribes a carrot and stick measure to collect property tax. It states that a person can be deemed a defaulter of tax if he/she doesn’t pay the tax within 30 days of receiving the tax bill. In case a person makes the payment before the due date, he/she is eligible to get a five per cent rebate on the total tax amount.
According to the act, the municipal commissioner will issue tax bills that will be sent out by post to the residents. The date of generation of the bill is taken into consideration while calculating a period of 30 days.
If the person does not pay, the commissioner will again send a reminder notice. These notices will be sent out periodically from time to time. Besides the tax amount, the defaulter also has to pay a maximum amount of Rs 25 per notice of demand sent to him.
The penalty amount as prescribed by the Act has been fixed at a maximum ceiling of 15 per cent on the total tax amount. The Act also provides for collection of simple interest at a maximum rate of 10 per cent per annum calculated from the date of issue of the tax bill. “The finer details of the penalty are being worked out. We will soon start issuing notices to the residents,” added Dutta.
If a resident avoids paying despite receiving several notices of demand, the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006 allows the administration to sell of his property to recover the tax amount. “But this is an extreme step. Generally if a person does not pay tax we snap his water connection,” said a source at the corporation.
Digital payment
In a bid to reduce the queues at Poura Bhavan, the civic body is planning to install ATM-like kiosks that would receive payments and generate acknowledgement slips across the township.
Such kiosks are likely to be installed by mid-2016, by when the authorities hope to send out penalty bills. They are also hoping to go online. “Our corporation is in the race to become a smart city and we want to ensure ‘zero trip to the urban local body’ for residents,” Dutta said. “So the process of making an online payment system is also underway.”
In a bid to ease the process residents can log on to www.bidhannagarmunicipality.org and fill up a self-assessment form about their house. It would include details such as location, number of floors, whether it is a commercial plot or not etc. They may then get a government-approved valuer to value their property for the tax calculation. In case they do not do the needful, the corporation would send a valuer.
Resident speak
Residents who have not been paying their taxes are clearly displeased with news of the penalty. “I didn’t manage to pay my taxes in time as I was visiting my son in the US. Added with the penalty, the sum will be massive this time. I wish I had paid it off earlier,” said Shyamal Kumar Choudhury, a resident of HB Block.
If a resident avoids payment despite receiving several notices of demand, the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006 allows the administration to sell his property to recover the tax amount. “But this is an extreme step.
Generally, if a person does not pay tax we snap his water connection,” said a civic official.
Timeline
1977- Central Valuation Board values property in Salt Lake and draws up tax structure
1990s- The Board proposes new tax structure. Residents protest, Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) Welfare Association moves court against it
May 18, 2007- Welfare Association wins case
2008- Municipality tries to collect taxes as per the 1990s rate
2008- Welfare Association files writ petition in high court challenging this
2009- High court upholds the old rates
2007-2011- No taxes collected
2011- Civic body arrives at a compromise with the Welfare Association; new tax structure decided
2012- Tax bills start being sent to houses but many don’t receive; many don’t pay. About Rs 12.5 crore collected as property tax.
2015- Decision taken to charge penalty and interest on tax defaulters
