Mumbai: Property tax payable same as 2022, BMC clarifies after bill gaffe

BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal says the process of recalculating tax of years gone by is ongoing. File Pic

After mid-day reported the news of an unannounced 15 to 20 per cent increase in property tax, the BMC has gone on the backfoot and claimed that it is yet to circulate physical copies of property tax bills. It further stated that the amounts payable on the e-bills, which many Mumbaikars had access to, will be rectified to the previousyear's figures.

BMC Commissioner and Administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal said that in light of a recent Supreme Court order pertaining to property taxation, the terms "bill payable" and "bill amount" were used online, which allegedly led to confusion. This order involves changes to the assessment of capital valuation. Chahal added that to prevent further confusion, the bills raised will mention only the payable amount pertaining to the financial year 2022-2023.

In the past week, the civic body began to upload property tax bills on its website - a nearly eight-month delay in issuance that was preceded by repeat requests from city residents. To citizens' fury, the amounts billed were nearly 15 to 20 per cent higher than the previous year. Several housing societies were apprised by their respective ward offices to collect physical copies. When some citizens visited ward offices to pay off their bills, the staff allegedly requested them to wait a few days owing to the ambiguity in tax amounts.

Notably, the BMC can increase property tax rates every five years, but a hike in taxes has been pending since 2020. This form of tax is the Corporation's second-largest source of revenue. Chahal said the process of recalculation of property tax of the previous years is ongoing but executing the process will take a few months.

Per sources in the BMC, the staff at ward offices received orders to issue bills and begin tax collection on the evening of 30 December. The following day, they received instructions to hold the bills and desist from circulating them. "How can the commissioner say the hard copies weren't circulated? We received a message on Friday to collect them. How can there be two separate bills?" asked Chandivli resident Mandeep Singh Makkar.

City residents have raised questions about the security-related reasons for the hike, as well as any hidden or carry-over charges the Corporation may levy next year. "The bills were issued with a footnote stating that they are being issued on a security/ad-hoc basis until a final policy decision regarding property tax is made. Now the BMC will insert riders in the bills to pay as per last year, but the bill amount may remain increased which the corporation will collect later on," said former corporator Asif Zakaria, who previously criticised the BMC's move to increase property tax.