Mumbai: No hike in property tax for another year

Photo for representational purpose. Pic/ istock

With the corporation election due next year, the BMC administration has sent a proposal to the standing committee, which will be tabled on Wednesday, stating that the property tax won't be increased for another year. All political parties had refused a proposal to hike the property tax in June.

The new proposal will impact the BMC's revenue collection, as it was expecting to receive Rs 7,000 crore in property tax in 2021-22, higher than the collection of Rs 4,559 crore in 2020-21. The property tax is revised every five years and it was done last in 2015. The proposal in 2020 was postponed for a year after all corporators unanimously opposed it.

"Amid the pandemic, Shiv Sena gave various rebates to developers, contractors and hotel owners in the name of economic downturn. So we opposed the burden of a tax hike on the common people. Now, the new proposal says that there isn't any hike, which is good for the citizens," said Prabhakar Shinde, group leader of the BJP. In 2021-22, the BMC collected Rs 322 crore in property tax till July. More than Rs 20,000 crore is pending in property tax due to several disputes.