Tax defaulters pay up Rs 6 crore

 The Taxation and Finance Committee of the Palike, on Wednesday, made three major tax defaulters to cough up about Rs six crore and asked them to pay the remaining Rs nine crore by March-end.

Worried over poor property tax recovery in City, the committee led by Chairman Munindra Kumar raided three commercial buildings in Mahadevapura Zone, Phoenix Mall, Tesco and Brindavan Tech Park. They had tax arrears of Rs 15 crore which they had not reportedly paid. After confirmation from Palike’s revenue department about the three defaulting the property tax, Munindra Kumar carried out the inspection.

At Phoenix Mall, he noted that the property owner was to pay Rs four crore but due to undervaluation, the amount reduced to Rs 1.07 crore. 

He asked the Palike revenue officers to measure the building and levy penalty if the wrong information was given under Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) of BBMP. He also noted that there were shops inside the mall which have not paid any tax. Similarly, Brindavan Tech Park and Tesco Tech Park owed Rs 22 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively. Both agreed to pay Rs 10 crore by the month-end.

Munindra Kumar said the Palike will make sure that occupancy certificate is not issued to residential and commercial buildings which suppress information to avoid taxes.

While only one month is left for current financial year to go by, Palike’s revenue through property tax has been very poor. It could hardly get Rs 750 crore so far although in previous year, tax collection was about Rs 1,300 crore.