Ponda council ups house taxes after 6 years

Ponda: After failing to hike the house tax in 2022, the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) has raised the house tax starting this April.

PMC chairperson Anand Naik said the hike is Rs 3/sqm for domestic houses and Rs 5/sqm for commercial units, raising the tax to Rs 10/sqm and Rs 25/sqm, respectively.

The council’s meeting on Thursday has approved the hike to meet its administrative expenses.

Naik said Ponda households were still enjoying the tax tariff of 2019 when the council raised the house tax from Rs 5/sqm to Rs 7/sqm.

The council tried to hike the tax in 2022 from Rs 7/sqm to Rs 15/sqm for houses and from Rs 20/sqm to Rs 100/sqm for commercial units. The rate for new house construction was hiked to Rs 50 (up from Rs 7) and Rs 206 (up from Rs 50) for commercial establishments, but public opposition forced it to roll back its decision.

Naik said even B-grade municipalities in Goa hiked their house tax to Rs 20/sqm, with some panchayats in the taluka doing the same.