Vijayawada: VMC commissioner C. Hari Kiran on Friday hinted at a hike in taxes in order to meet the expenses and get the corporation out of the clutches of debts.
Mr Hari Kiran said that this week, the revenue team identified 300 vacant lands, 631 incidents of deviating from sanctioned construction permissions, and 63 cases of non-assessed assets in the city. The owners will be penalised, he promised.
“We want to match the Rs 280 crore we spend with our income, which is just Rs 210 crore. If the dues and penalties are collected from the people and the errors corrected, it may add Rs 30 crore to the income,” he said
Mr Hari Kiran hinted an increase of various taxes in the near future.
He said, “There should be a revision of taxes every five years. However, in Vijayawada, taxes have not been revised since a long time. So, we have scheduled a meeting with state professional tax board next week. They will divide the city into zones based on the activity there and revise the taxes. We expect an increase of another Rs 40 crore with the revision.”
