Nizamabad: Municipal officials blamed for biased tax collection

Nizamabad: Building owners of commercial complexes in Nizamabad city as well as municipalities, mandal headquarters and major gram panchayats in erstwhile Nizamabad district are arbitrarily breaching the revenue of local bodies.Although many old buildings have been demolished and replaced with new ones in Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Ellareddy, Armor, Banuswada and Bodhan municipalities, the old building tax is still levied. Officials are neglecting to enforce the rule that a new building should be newly assessed and taxed at the same time as the new building permits are issued.

The Nizamabad Municipal Corporation's revenue is being breached as the corporation's officials are siding with the commercial and commercial builders in the matter of property tax, which is the main source of income for the corporation.Local authorities are embarrassed by the strict regulations regarding the issuance of permits for the construction of a new home and the collection of taxes, but the simplistic approach to business, commercial complexes, hospitals, function halls and hotels has given rise to criticism. The Vinayak Nagar area in Nizamabad city is undergoing a major shopping mall in a multi-storey building which was completed a year ago while the old tax is still levied on the building.Local bodies in the district are losing a lot of revenue with the help of the authorities for many multi-storey buildings in cities, towns, mandal headquarters and major gram panchayats.

TAX ASSESSMENT METHODS DRAW FLAK

The attitude of the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation Revenue Department officials towards the taxation policy is not uniform. Sometimes the taxation varies depending on the context. Tax assessment varies from person to person. The NMC's dual stance is facing criticism from city dwellers.

The building, which has only the ground floor in the "Dubba" area, took the permit for the construction of the first floor, but the building was branded as commercial and heavily taxed. Commercial buildings, however, are not taxed that way. The old residential building at Vinayak Nagar was demolished and a new commercial structure was constructed there. As the years go by, the duplicitous attitude of the authorities towards the tax on the old building is still evident. The old tax on the building is estimated at thousands of rupees. According to the new structure, the tax is expected to be between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 6 lakh. The municipal corporation is losing revenue as officials display sluggishness. From building permits to taxation, the corporation is losing a lot of tax revenue as the municipal corporation corrupted are reportedly are cooperating with builders.

Criticism has been levelled at the authorities for not looking down on some hotels and shopping malls in terms of property tax collection, which is a major source of revenue for the municipality. With the help of the people's representatives in Nizamabad city, some hotels have tax arrears of around Rs 6 to 7 crore, but the municipal authorities are not trying to collect them. The municipal corporation has to pay property tax of up to Rs 50 crore annually. Only 50 per cent to 60 per cent or Rs 25 to 30 crore is being collected every year. The total amount collected does not match the staff salaries of the corporation.