Citizens want 5% property tax discount till May

Citizens are asking the BBMP to extend by a month the April 30 deadline to get the 5% discount on property tax.

The civic body has offered a 5% discount on property tax if citizens pay before April 30, but property owners say the elections and a few holidays have left them with little time.

"There is a huge difference in the tax amount this year. We've to find out the difference in the tax amount from the ward office, get a challan from there and pay it in the bank. I've been to the ward office four or five times in the last two weeks, but the staff members are out on election duty," said Sridhar Nayak, a resident of Ganganagar.

Paying the tax online is an even harder task since the server hangs. "Many of us couldn't pay this week due to bank holidays. In May, we've to pay 5% additional tax," Nayak said.

The BBMP's joint commissioner for revenue, M Venkatachalapathy, pointed out that the elections did not affect the taxpayer since he can pay directly in the bank. "There is no need to visit the ward office," he said, adding that the BBMP is yet to decide on extending the deadline for the discount.

BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad ruled out an extension, reiterating that the discount would apply only if the citizens pay before April 30.

BBMP council member M K Gunashekar agreed that it is possible to extend the deadline. "It could be extended by seeking the approval of the BBMP council meeting," he said. "There were many instances of such extensions in the past and the decision was taken when I was the chairperson of the BBMP's standing committee on taxation and finance."

He added that the deadline could be extended this time with the election commission’s approval since the model code was in force.

Despite the BBMP raising the target by Rs 900 crore in 2019-20, tax collections in April were lower than last year. "Rs 250 crore has been collected until April 20 while we had collected up to Rs 350 crore in April 2018. We expect the collections to be higher in the last week of this month," Venkatachalapathy said.