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Dehradun corporation eyes to tax more houses to raise revenue
The Dehradun corporation plans to cast wide its house tax net to hem in untaxed properties, a step towards bulking up its revenue.
The Dehradun corporation plans to cast wide its house tax net to hem in untaxed properties, a step towards bulking up its revenue.
The civic body last held its survey of households in 2008, during which it realised that the number of houses in Dehradun had more than doubled from 50,000 to 1.25 lakh. There has not been any fresh survey since then.
In 2014-15, the corporation levied tax on hitherto untaxed houses in the outskirts of the city, and now, it will tax all houses built after April 2008 in the core areas of the city.
The civic body will hold special ward-wise house tax camps from October 1, and aims to beat last year’s target by at least Rs 2 crore, said city mayor Vinod Chamoli. It plans to earn Rs 10 crore through house tax in 2015-16.
“With growing population, the pressure on us (to provide adequate civic services) has multiplied over the years but our revenue generation has not increased proportionately,” said Chamoli.
“The idea is to extend the house tax net to as many properties as possible this year as it is the biggest source of income for us,” said Chamoli.
Additional municipal commissioner Kushm Chauhan, who is in charge of tax drive, said the corporation had already distributed around 80,000 house tax forms to residents through its tax inspectors.
“The camps will facilitate the locals in correctly assessing and filling up their tax papers,” she said.
