Property tax revision only to make ULBs self-sufficient: Botcha Satyanarayana

Tadepalli: Minister for Municipal Administration Botcha Satyanarayana condemned the reports in a section of media on property tax reforms and said revised method of property tax fixation is to make urban local bodies (ULBs) financially self-sufficient and would not burden the public.

Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, the Minister said the State government under the leadership of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken the decision after receiving suggestions from Central government to change the system of levying property tax to strengthen urban local bodies and to provide better services to people.

The Minister said the property tax, till now, is levied from annual rental value basis (ARV System) where three months rent is levied as tax per annum. The government has revised the method of tax fixation and to levy tax based on capital value (CV) of the property, he said and added that the new taxation system is already being implemented in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The Minister said the percentage of the property tax so fixed, is between 0.10% and 0.50% of the capital value (CV) for residential buildings and it's between 0.2% to 2% for non-residential buildings. The Chief Minister is clear in his intentions not to burden the people with revised taxation system and it is mentioned in the G.O that increased tax shall be limited to 15% of the existing tax, he said.

The Minister assured that property tax would not be increased more than 10-15 per cent and said not to believe in false propaganda of a section of media. The Minister said only Rs 50 is levied as property tax for every house with plinth area below 375 Sq ft and it is also because the property rights will be given only if taxes are paid.

The Minister said the government has decided to levy water tax between Rs 100 and Rs 350 per month for households (domestic) and is between Rs 30 and Rs 50 per kilolitre for bulk usage (like apartments), and is between Rs 60 and Rs 140 per kilolitre for commercial purposes and it is to be between Rs 40 and Rs 80 per kilolitre for industrial users. The Minister said the revised taxes are only to cover the ONM costs of the supply of water but not for additional income to the municipalities and added that the hike would be 15 %.

The Minister also explained in detail on the new sewerage taxes and said they are nominal and it wouldn't burden the people. The Minister reiterated that the revenue of the municipalities would be spent on the development works of the same municipality and not for any other works.