Citizens dispute BBMP, say property tax hiked by 100%

For K Manjula of Chikka Kallasandra, the increase in tax for her residential property was more than double the amount she paid last year. She paid Rs 14,370 as property tax last year but this year the tax has gone up to Rs 30,818.

 

A stunned Manjula said, “It’s mind-boggling and way beyond my expectation. I had read news reports that the hike for residential properties may not exceed 50-60%. A 100% increase is just extortion.” 

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) initially insisted that it had hiked the property tax by just 20% but as taxation zones have been changed drastically, the minimum increase in property tax is 50% for almost 95% properties. 

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) of BBMP, M Venkatachalapathy, wondered whether such an increase was possible. 

“We had estimated the hike at 50% but 100% increase in property tax is something we never thought about. We may need to look into this case,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the civic body continues to face system-generated technical problems though tax collection began on Tuesday. On the first day itself, 3,800-odd owners paid Rs 4 crore in property tax. 

“If somebody has paid more tax because of any technical problem, the excess amount will be refunded. If the payment was made online, the excess amount will be deposited online. If the payment was made in cash, the refund will be made by cheque,” Venkatachalapathy said.