North Corp to number properties to nail tax evaders

To catch property owners who shy away from paying taxes, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation will start numbering the properties in its area.

To catch property owners who shy away from paying taxes, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation will start numbering the properties in its area.

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Currently, the corporation does not have a database of the number of properties liable to pay tax, which is leading to huge loses to its exchequer.

At a special meeting, Mahender Nagpal, Leader of the House, said that it is imperative for the corporation to collect tax on all properties if it wanted to improve its financial condition. This year, the North Corporation managed to collect just Rs. 110 crore in property tax, while last year it had earned Rs. 300 crore.

“The North Delhi Power Limited and the Delhi Jal Board have registrations of all connections, which is how they augment their income. The corporation, however, has no idea which household is paying tax and which is not. This is why we want to start numbering each property,” Nagpal said.

The corporation had started assigning unique property identification codes (UPIC) to properties last year, but the work was halted midway due to the trifurcation.

Of the 12 lakh codes distributed in Delhi, property tax payments have been received from just 9 lakh, which means that 3 lakh households are still trying to fleece paying taxes.

Apart from the North Corporation, the South Corporation too is trying to consolidate UPIC numbers and increase the gambit.

Yogender Chandolia, chairman, standing committee, said that the corporation should also start regularising unauthorised constructions and imposing commercial rate property taxes on discoms in order to generate more income.