Gzb civic body board blocks new property tax structure

The board of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation on Tuesday held back the proposal of levying property tax as per a new structure which is expected to almost double the tax amount for residents. The board also rejected the proposal for bringing all parking lots under one operator across the city.

Officials said that the board put on hold the proposal of levying new property tax structure and it will now be taken up by the new board which will take charge after the local body elections, which are expected by the end of the year.

“The proposal for initiating the new property tax structure has been held and the proposal will be taken up by the new board. The board did not pass the proposal nor did not reject the proposal. It was indecisive over the proposal. This means that in this financial year, taxes will be paid as per the existing structure,” said Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Ghaziabad municipal commissioner.

The new tax structure is expected to fetch about 200 crore additional annual revenue for the corporation while it earns about ₹140 crore annually as per the existing structure.

Officials familiar with the development while requesting anonymity said that they may consider referring the proposal to the state administration for a final call.

According to the newly proposed tax structure, different colonies have been clubbed together based on per square feet rental values on carpet area and put under categories, which will determine the tax to be paid to the civic body.

Civic officials said the present tax structure has uniform rental values for all localities. As a result, households in prime localities as well as the ones in lower-segment localities, end up paying the same amount of taxes.

According to official records of the corporation, the rental values for calculation of tax are the lowest among some of the major corporations across the state.

For instance, the maximum per square foot rate for taxation in Ghaziabad city is 1.32, which is the lowest among 12 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, while the highest rate is 5.58.

Officials said that the lower rates have dented the tax revenues, which need to be hiked in accordance with the provisions of the UP Municipal Corporation Act, 1959.

“The councillors did not allow the proposal to go through as it will considerably hike the tax rate for residents. Instead, there is already a proposal which allows the corporation to hike the rate as per existing structure by 5% every year. This increase is to be made after every two years and the rate of hike will be 10%. The decision about the new structure will be taken up by the new board,” said Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Raj Nagar.

According to the official records, the corporation has a total of 394,417 properties under the ambit of property tax in its jurisdiction area and estimates that about 185,895 new properties are likely to be added on the basis of the recently concluded GIS survey.

The other proposal to bring in all the parking lots under one operator was rejected by the board on Tuesday.

“The board proposed that the operator should be chosen zone wise (one each for each of the five zones). The proposal was to fetch about 7.5 crore annually but it has been stalled now,” Tanwar added.

The councillors said that they were also opposed to certain conditions which include penalising vehicles parked at non-designated areas.