Brace for tax hike in GPs : Govt mulls three-fold hike in property tax in panchayats

Hyderabad: The New Year is going to dig a bigger hole in the pockets of those who want to register their property in gram panchayats.

There are 12,679 gram panchayats in the state.

The panchayats have begun assessment of tax and bill collectors are already conducting door-to-door survey to assess tax and issue demand notices to the owners.

The data of the houses would be computerised, and the tax collection would be monitored online by the officials every day. Action would be taken on the bill collectors who indulge in fraud and fail in collecting the tax.

According to official sources, the Panchayat Act allows the GPs to revise the rates of the property tax annually. There was no revision of the tax rates in the GPs after formation of Telangana.

They said a raise in the property tax is intended to improve income of the GPs as they are entrusted with various responsibilities and funds are required to carry them out.

The hike in property tax rates becomes important as they solely depend on the property tax and grants from the Centre and state finance commissions. About Rs 279 crore is mobilised as revenue from taxes per annum.

With the raise of tax rates, the total income of the GPs through the property tax would reach Rs 830 crore.

According to officials, the new tax rate for an RCC house would be Rs 3000 per annum which is Rs 1000 now. The new tax for the house with sheet roofs would be Rs 2,100 which is Rs 750 now.

It would be Rs 1500 for the houses with tiles' roofs which is Rs 500 now. Similarly, the tax for a hut would be Rs 750 which was Rs 250 now.

The officials have also directed the GPs to record the details of the houses being assessed for the property tax in the online portal so that anyone could see them.

The tax collection details should also be recorded in the online portal to monitor the performance of the bill collectors.

Panchayat Raj officials want to see that no tax evasion, failure in tax collection, fraud in remitting the collected amount and under-assessment of tax takes place.