Haze over 40% discount hits property tax bill distribution in Pune

PUNE: It has been 12 days into the new financial year, but citizens are still unable to pay their property taxes on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) website. Citizens said they were able to access the property tax bills online, but the website shows the message - "bill not generated for the current year" - when they try to initiate the payment.

"I pay the property tax regularly and as early as possible. This year, however, I could not complete the process even after trying it a couple of times," said Kothrud resident Gauri Kulkarni.

The lack of clarity on property tax billing after a 40% discount for self-occupied properties has delayed the issuance of the bills by PMC, sources in the civic administration said.

This delay has adversely impacted the revenue of the civic administration, as property tax is its biggest income source. "PMC could have net around Rs 300 crore by mid-April if the bills had been issued on time. Every year, the civic administration starts issuing bills from April 1. But this year, the billing process has not yet started," a source in the PMC said.

In the second week of March, the state government had announced that it "will reintroduce the 40% property tax discount for self-occupied homes," but no notification about it has been published so far, civic officials said. "Since the announcement was made by the state government, this discount will be offered for sure.

But a standard process for issuing the notification must be followed. It will be completed, and the notification will be issued soon," said Pune guardian minister Chandrakant Patil.

Patil said clearance from finance and law departments, among others, was to be completed before the final approval comes from the chief minister's office.

Every year, property owners paying the tax before May 31 are eligible for a rebate meant for diligent taxpayers. Usually, all the bills are distributed before May, allowing citizens to avail rebate of 5-10% by completing the payment before May-end.

"We are looking into increasing the deadline for the tax rebate. The citizens paying the tax by June-end will be eligible for the tax rebate. So, around a month's time more will be given to taxpayers to avail of the rebate," said a senior PMC official.

As per the PMC officials, similar extensions were introduced earlier too. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the civic administration had extended the scheme till June 30 in 2020 and 2021.