Mumbai: Before the Mumbai Municipal Elections, the budget of Shivsena BMC is to be presented today i.e. on Thursday. It is being told that in the BMC budget, the possibility of imposing new taxes and increasing the old taxes is less. The budget for the year 2022-23 will be presented by Municipal Commissioner IS Chahal in the Standing Committee on 3 February.
According to a report, less than two months are left for the end of the current financial year and the civic body is staring at a shortfall of Rs 1,454 crore in property tax collections. So far, BMC has been able to collect 73 per cent of the revenue against the target of Rs 5,400 crore set for the ongoing financial year. The figures till February 2, 2022 show that, the Civil Tax Collection and Assessment Department has so far collected a total of Rs 3,946.36 crore.
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A senior official was quoted in the report as saying that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, valuation and inspection of properties, as well as collection of property tax dues, were very sluggish last year, with the lockdown restrictions being the biggest reason. The collection of tax could start only after December 2020 and January 2021. This year, we are actively collecting dues and assessing properties. So, we have to meet 73 per cent of the total target collection as compared to last year’s collection.
Let us tell you that property tax is the biggest source of revenue for the Mumbai civic body. According to the report, during the Budget for 2020-21, the civic body had set a target of Rs 6,788.58 crore for the property. The civic body managed to collect Rs 5,135 crore between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, against the target of Rs 5,200 for this fiscal year. This year, in less than two months, the civic body will have to collect Rs 1,454 crore by March 31 to meet its target for the current fiscal.