Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar expressed his displeasure over Bengaluru’s property tax collection and said he is not satisfied with the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS) of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The biggest problem we are facing is with Bengaluru’s property tax collection, the deputy chief minister said on Thursday, adding that he is not satisfied with the SAS.
The Self-Assessment Scheme, introduced by the BBMP, allows citizens to choose between various zones based on the nature of property in the city and self-assess their property tax liability.
Shivakumar said the SAS scheme was introduced with a lot and hope from the residents. "We have seen a lot of trials. We have been able to collect only Rs 3,000 crore plus in a financial year which is not at all enough. For a mega city like Bengaluru, Rs 3,000 crore is not enough at all," he was quoted as saying.
He observed that poor property tax collection would mean that the BBMP depends on the state government for additional funds and added that the government is unable to pump funds into the civic body. "Hence, we are braining storming to revise the SAS with a new scheme."
Reacting to the issue of not just citizens, but government offices too are failing to pay property tax, the deputy chief minister said the priority is to check how many state and central government offices failed to pay property tax.
He said even public sector enterprises like HAL, BEL or HMT have to cough up taxes and added that he has written to the heads of these firms regarding this.
