In what comes as a temporary relief to property owners in the city, Bengaluru Mayor M Goutham Kumar on Wednesday deferred the decision to impose an additional 2% ‘road transport cess’ on property tax following protests.
A final decision on the cess would be taken after detailed deliberations, he said on the floor of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council.
The decision to defer the move came in light of protests by opposition corporators— mainly the Congress and JD(S) who threatened to stall the council’s proceedings over the Mayor's decision to unilaterally pass the resolution without discussing it with other members of the council.
Residents in the city criticised the proposal and said it would be a burden to those who already pay their taxes properly.
TNM had earlier reported that the cess has to be approved by the Urban Development Department of the state government after BBMP council approval. The BJP enjoys a comfortable majority in the council and is also in power in the state.
The cess, which was earlier proposed by the Congress-JD(S)-led council as well, was planned to be used for road, street and drain maintenance with the Mayor pegging the cess amount to be around Rs 150 crore for the entire city.
However, in the last two years, after the Congress mayors had proposed it, the opposition had come from BJP corporators.
Tuesday’s decision to impose the new cess was not well received by the residents either who targeted the BBMP over its failure to collect the existing property tax itself and for imposing additional burden.
Over the last four fiscal years, BBMP has failed to meet even 90% of its property tax collection target, with the FY 2016-17 being the most successful with 86% collection. In the last two years, the BBMP has managed to collect only around 82% of its target for property tax.
Even this year, with just two months to go for the financial year to end, BBMP has collected only Rs 2425.3 crore (up till January 15) out of the targeted amount of Rs 3,500 crore.
In what comes as a temporary relief to property owners in the city, Bengaluru Mayor M Goutham Kumar on Wednesday deferred the decision to impose an additional 2% ‘road transport cess’ on property tax following protests.
A final decision on the cess would be taken after detailed deliberations, he said on the floor of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council.
The decision to defer the move came in light of protests by opposition corporators— mainly the Congress and JD(S) who threatened to stall the council’s proceedings over the Mayor's decision to unilaterally pass the resolution without discussing it with other members of the council.
Residents in the city criticised the proposal and said it would be a burden to those who already pay their taxes properly.
TNM had earlier reported that the cess has to be approved by the Urban Development Department of the state government after BBMP council approval. The BJP enjoys a comfortable majority in the council and is also in power in the state.
The cess, which was earlier proposed by the Congress-JD(S)-led council as well, was planned to be used for road, street and drain maintenance with the Mayor pegging the cess amount to be around Rs 150 crore for the entire city.
However, in the last two years, after the Congress mayors had proposed it, the opposition had come from BJP corporators.
Tuesday’s decision to impose the new cess was not well received by the residents either who targeted the BBMP over its failure to collect the existing property tax itself and for imposing additional burden.
Over the last four fiscal years, BBMP has failed to meet even 90% of its property tax collection target, with the FY 2016-17 being the most successful with 86% collection. In the last two years, the BBMP has managed to collect only around 82% of its target for property tax.
Even this year, with just two months to go for the financial year to end, BBMP has collected only Rs 2425.3 crore (up till January 15) out of the targeted amount of Rs 3,500 crore.