New Delhi, August 31, 2017: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation passed a resolution waiving property tax for houses with a carpet area up to 500 square feet in its general body meeting on Thursday according to hindustantimes.com.
Owners of houses between 500 square feet and 700 square feet will be given a 60% concession in their property tax.
The decision was taken in accordance with the election promise of the ruling party, Shiv Sena as well as the BJP.
Houses upto 500 square feet size are currently charged only nominal tax. It is based on the capital value of the property and fixed on six different parameters. There are 14.98 lakh such properties in Mumbai and the BMC gets revenue of about Rs350 crore from them.
Discounts for properties below 700 square feet will lead to a loss of Rs100 crore.
The resolution will now be forwarded to the state government for approval, after which the waiver will come into effect. The state government will need to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act 1888, to waive property tax. The BJP-led state government is expected to amend the act as it also made similar promises in its manifesto. However, the time-frame has not been decided yet.
Read more: Shiv Sena manifesto: New sops, old promises
Ahead of the civic elections early this year, the Sena announced to scrap the property tax to woo middle and lower middle class voters. It was one of the promises in the Sena manifesto.
Last month, while speaking at the party’s 51st foundation day, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had also asked the corporators to work on it. He had also said that the resolution will be passed before the monsoon session in mid- July.
According to the reports published in hindustantimes.com in a letter to Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Sena leader Yashwant Jadhav had demanded that houses with an area of up to 500 square feet should be exempted completely from paying property tax from 2015 till 2020. In addition he had also asked to give 60% concession in property tax for houses with an area ranging from 500 to 700 square feet.
Hindustantimes.com also quoted that besides property tax rebates, some other pre-poll promises made by the Shiv Sena include free health services to those who do not qualify under any state government schemes, e-libraries for the youth, a music academy, revamp of open spaces, finding solutions for potholes, a specialty hospital for diabetes, 24×7 water supply, electricity generation centre, and a coastal road from Dahisar to Nariman Point, among others.
