Tax data: Town planning dept marks ₹199.34 crore increase, followed by ₹32.49 crore in property tax department
The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) said the revenue of the city has increased by more than ₹280 crore this year, compared to the previous year. Of this, around ₹200 crore is from the town planning department, courtesy newly-launched residential projects in the city, sources from the department said.
On the other hand, water, advertisement, PWD and estate departments have taken a hit, with generating lower or same revenue as last year.
According to records, TMC has collected taxes of ₹1,637.99 crore this year till December 1, as compared to ₹1,353.22 collected last year during the corresponding period.
The corporation has set a target to collect ₹3,105.47 till March 2020. So far 52.75 % of this target has been achieved.
An official from accounts department said, “A marked increased is seen in revenue collected by town planning, property tax and GST departments. Out of this, town planning department’s revenue has increased by ₹199.34 crore, followed by ₹32.49 crore in property tax department, and ₹28.17 crore in GST department.”
The official added, “However, some departments have suffered losses too. There is no increase in the revenue of water department, which has managed to achieve merely 31.64% of its annual goal.”
{{/usCountry}}The official added, “However, some departments have suffered losses too. There is no increase in the revenue of water department, which has managed to achieve merely 31.64% of its annual goal.”
{{/usCountry}}He said PWD, solid waste and estate departments have suffered losses as well.
An official from the town planning department said, “Like water and property tax departments, we do not have a fixed target every year. The revenue collection of our department solely depends on the number of proposals we receive each year. This year we got many proposals as many plush residential projects have come up along Pokharan 1, Pokharan 2, Kolshet and Ghodbunder areas. This has increased the revenue.”
The property tax department, too, increased its revenue by ₹32.49 crore by targeting major tax defaulters in the last few years.
The revenue of the water department has merely increased by ₹8 crore compared to last year as most residents have complained of exorbitant water tax bills and have refused to pay them.
“We have levied taxes as per the area of flats this year. Some residents complained of discrepancies in the area mentioned in bills. We have asked them to get the bills corrected in their respective ward offices and then make the payment before the end of this financial year,” said an official from the water department.
Unpaid rent affects estate department
The estate department’s revenue has taken a major hit, and showed a marked decrease of ₹1.77 crore. Officials claimed that unpaid rentals led to the dip.
An official from the estate department said, “Most of my employees were busy with the election duty for the Assembly polls in October, and thus were not able to focus on tax collection. There are many pending dues, which is also a major reason for the decrease. The city has 4,000 rental homes, out of which around 3,000 people have defaulted.”
He informed that most civic properties are rented to different institutions.
“Some of these institutions have defaulted around ₹3.5 crore to ₹4 crore of rent, which led to the decrease in the revenue of the department.”