HYDERABAD: If the city’s civic infrastructure fails to meet people’s expectations, then they are partly to blame. The residents collectively owe 5,500 crore in property tax dues to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which is already reeling under severe fund crunch.
In the past over eight years, nearly 7 lakh residents have not bothered to clear their tax dues as per GHMC records.
At present, there are around 17 lakh taxpayers in the GHMC region, including 13 lakh residential and four lakh commercial property owners. Property tax is the main source of income for the GHMC and accounts for almost 90% of its total tax revenues.
With less than 50 days remaining in the financial year, the civic body is again faced with the same problem of recovering pending taxes from defaulters. The situation is further complicated as the state govt has so far not introduced a one-time scheme (OTS) that would provide relief on accumulated interest arrears to taxpayers, prompting many to pay up. Already, GHMC has served 4 lakh distress warrant notices in accordance with Section 269 of the GHMC Act.
Distress warrants issued
A distress warrant notice serves as a legal directive that can be issued to property owners who have defaulted on tax payments. It enables the municipal authority to confiscate and auction the property of defaulters.
GHMC officials said they are conducting regular door-to-door visits through their bill collectors and tax inspectors to encourage timely tax payments. Property owners have multiple options available for tax payment, including citizen service centres, online platforms, e-Seva centres and direct payments to bill collectors, officials said. Apart from these, around 60 govt departments too have not cleared their taxes amounting to 4,400 crore over the past decade. Some of the major defaulters in GHMC are the secretariat, roads & buildings, revenue, health & medical, prohibition and South Central Railway.Dues unsettled since 2021
The outstanding dues from the secretariat have remained unsettled since 2001, dating back to the united Andhra Pradesh period, whereas the R&B department has not cleared its dues since 2009. Moreover, the state govt has allocated no funds towards property tax on govt buildings in GHMC.
“Letters are being sent to various govt offices regarding clearance of outstanding dues. Several departments have already agreed to settle it. Steps will be taken to ensure both state and central govt offices resolve their long-pending arrears,” said a senior official in GHMC taxation wing, adding that SMS are also being sent to taxpayers daily as a reminder to pay on time.
Meanwhile, the civic body has collected property tax amounting to 1,460 crore in this financial year.
The civic body has set a target of over 2,000 crore for property tax in the current fiscal, which surpasses the previous financial year’s (2023-24) collection of 1,917 crore.
Source Homevior.in
