Property tax exemption ends, 10 per cent penalty from now

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 15

To overcome the financial constraints of the municipal corporations, the Punjab government had announced concession on property tax and sewerage-water bill defaulters just ahead of Diwali so that people could pay their outstanding tax and bills with exemption from the 10 per cent penalty imposed earlier.

The exemption given by the government ended today and from now onwards, 10 per cent penalty will be imposed, which will continue for the next three months till April 15.

The MCB’s sewerage-water bills of Rs 12 crore and house tax Rs 2.50 crore is outstanding, which has not been recovered since long.

Only 50 per cent people have paid their property tax. Around 23,000 people have not paid tax for 2017-18.

There are 50,000 units in the city, which come under property tax. These include 34,000 residential and 16,000 commercial units.

By December 2017, there were about 23,000 people who had not deposited the tax for 2017-18. The corporation had issued more than 15,000 notices four months earlier and had asked the people to submit their outstanding property tax from 2013 to 2018.

Along with this, a warning was also issued that strict action would be taken against those who did not pay the tax.

There are around 1,200 house tax defaulters from whom the corporation has to recover tax of about Rs 2.50 crore.

The MCB had issued notices to all house tax defaulters to pay their tax with 10 per cent rebate.

The last date for paying tax with 10 per cent discount was September 30, but the Punjab Government had extended it till January 15, 2018.

After this exemption, 10 per cent penalty will be levied on house and property tax till April 15, 2018 whereas sewerage-water bills would have to be paid without rebate.

Apart from this, the defaulters who would not pay their property and house tax till April 15, 2018 would have to pay 20 per cent penalty and 18 per cent interest.

To regulate illegal sewerage-water connections, the government had given benefit under the scheme.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said the government had given 10 per cent discount to people who did not pay tax and had a good chance of paying their outstanding tax. Now, the corporation will take action to recover the dues, he added.