BDA collects Rs 5 crore property tax in a week

Owners responded enthusiastically to the BDA’s offer of a 5% rebate for paying property tax before April 30.

Officials from the Bangalore Development Authority's finance department said they have collected Rs 5 crore as tax a week after they began collections.

“Usually, during the beginning of the financial year, we see only 200 to 300 people paying taxes every day. However, this year, nearly 1,000 people have been paying taxes every day over the last one week,” said S M Ramaprasad, finance member, BDA.

Though the portal was supposed to open up on April 1, the BDA allowed tax payments only from April 12.

“Until now, the property tax collections for the month of April would be close to Rs 1 crore. But, this year, in just a week we have collected Rs 5 crore,” Ramaprasad said.

Officials added that the announcement of the penalty may also have had an impact on the increased collections. “We have also announced a 10 per cent annual interest if the payments are made after June 30. This might have had an impact,” a senior BDA official said.

The BDA has a target of collecting Rs 35 crore in property taxes this year.

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