Notice served on hotel for defaulting on property tax

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) could be crying hoarse about its ailing financial condition but its Revenue department is skipping property taxes collection from major defaulters in the City.

The fact came to light when Mayor B S Sathyanarayana,  chairman of the BBMP’s Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance Dr M S Shivaprasad and the other members of the committee on Thursday raided a prominent hotel near the City railway station, which allegedly has defaulted on Rs. 3.40 crore property tax. 

It is learnt that the hotel has not paid taxes for the past five years. After the raid, the BBMP slapped a notice on the hotel and sealed it. The members warned the owner of the hotel that the property will be seized if the dues are not cleared. Dr Shivaprasad said Thursday’s raid is the beginning of the drive against the tax defaulters. He said all tax defaulters should learn lessons from the raid and clear their dues. “We will identify tax defaulters who have properties measuring more than 3,000 sq ft and launch a crackdown against them,” he said. He said there are many residential properties in the City which are used for commercial activities. The committee will identify such properties and impose penalty on the owners, said Shivaprasad.

Rs 1,000 crore

The BBMP has, this year, set a revenue target of Rs 2,200 crore from the property tax but all that it could generate was about Rs 1,000 crore. Using the Geographical Information System (GIS), the Palike has identified 16 lakh-odd properties but could bring only 12 lakh properties under the tax net. 

Among the 12 lakh properties, there are many tax defaulters including major commercial and industrial estab­l­i­shments. Also, there are properties which are undervalued to escape paying hefty property tax.