JOIN USHike in tax on vacant plots: Mangaluru City Corporation to write to govt
Following complaints from citizens and corporators on the hike in property tax for 2023-24 under SAS for vacant plots, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has decided to write to the government.
As per an amendment made by the state government to Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act to tweak the property taxes in 2021, the property tax should be calculated based on the prevailing guidance value of the property, including vacant sites.
Opposition leader in Council Naveen D’Souza and Congress Corporators Praveenchandra Alva and A C Vinayraj were of the opinion that since tax calculation is made based on the guidance value, even those who have vacant plots will have to pay huge amounts of tax. Thus, family properties that have remained vacant will also attract a huge amount of property tax.
"Families own up to 50 cents of vacant plots in the wards situated on the outskirts of Mangaluru city. It is the poor and middle-class people who are inconvenienced a lot. They will have to sell their properties to pay the property tax on the vacant plots," Alva said.
"When 25 per cent of the guidance value of the property is considered for calculating property tax, the tax on the vacant plots is increased by one and a half times," said corporator A C Vinayraj.
Chief whip in the council Premanand Shetty too felt that after the revision of property tax, the tax on vacant plots has been increased considerably. The issue needs to be brought to the notice of the government, he said.
The tax has been revised for residential and non-commercial properties in the range of 0.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent of the capital value of the property, scientifically, as allowed by guidelines. The latest revision was incorporated into the online software with effect from March 21, 2023