Hyderabad: The state government would henceforth take up revision of property tax every year. There is no stipulated timeframe to take up revision at municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayats. While some corporations and municipalities revise the rates every five years, some others do it once in a decade.
The new proposal is to be placed for approval before the next Cabinet meeting, based on which the government is planning to bring a new legislation in the next session of Legislature.
Property tax remains the major source of revenue for all local bodies. While the GHMC’s annual budget size is nearly Rs 5,000 crore, it earns over Rs 1,100 crore through property tax.
Except for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, property tax collection in other municipal corporations like Warangal, Khammam and Nizamabad besides municipalities and panchayats usually falls short of targets stipulated by the government. With this, local bodies depend on the state government for funds to take up development activities. The government is not in a position to afford this due to financial constraints.
The government was forced to allot Rs 100 crore each to Khammam and Warangal municipal corporations in the Budget this year due to political compulsions as it had promised more funds during the recent municipal elections which the ruling TRS won with absolute majority. Following this, other corporations and municipalities have demanded special grants.
To overcome this problem, the government is planning to hike property tax every year and prescribe the tax amount in a scientific manner and make local bodies self-reliant At present, in GHMC area there is not much difference between property tax being collected in posh areas like Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and areas in the old city.
This issue had figured in the recent Legislative Assembly session when minister K.T. Rama Rao admitted that property tax was not being fixed scientifically.
BJP Uppal legislator N.V.S.S. Prabhakar said, “Property tax should be fixed based on amenities provided in a particular area. Why should a property owner residing in old city pay almost the same tax as those in posh areas like Jubilee Hills, where there are better amenities?”
