Two-fold hike: Property tax to rise by 100%

Residing in Delhi is going to get dearer if the hike in property tax proposed by the North Delhi municipal corporation comes into effect. Your property tax bill may get doubled as the commissioner PK Gupta has proposed a hike in the base value as well as the tax rates.

Residing in Delhi is going to get dearer if the hike in property tax proposed by the North Delhi municipal corporation comes into effect. Your property tax bill may get doubled as the commissioner PK Gupta has proposed a hike in the base value as well as the tax rates.

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The base value of a property is calculated on the built-up area and it is likely to go up 1.7 times. Property tax in residential areas has also been hiked by 3 to 4 per cent.

Hotels, motels, guesthouses, non-government hospitals, gyms and banquet halls will get more expensive with the corporation proposing a tax hike from the existing 12 per cent to 20 per cent.

Unveiling budget proposals for 2013-14 at the Civic Centre, the North Delhi Municipal Commissioner said the 3-4 per cent hike in property tax will generate an extra income of R200 crore and justified the measure by saying that there had been no such hike since 2003-04.

Explaining the new taxation policy in residential areas, an official said that while at present one has to pay R12,000 for a R1-lakh property, if the proposal is accepted, the value of property will rise to Rs. 1.7 lakh. It would be taxed at 15 per cent, which would mean that the owner will have to pay nearly R25,000 as property tax.

The municipal commissioners of east and south corporations too are expected to make similar announcements in their budgets on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

However, Leader of the House Mahender Nagpal said that the proposal to increase property tax will not be passed by the civic body as his party, the BJP, had made a promise of no tax hikes in its election manifesto.

The hotel mahasangh of Delhi has termed the hike 'unfair'. "Earlier only three-star hotels had to pay 20 per cent tax. If the proposed taxes are imposed, we will have to shut shop," said Arun Gupta, president of the mahasangh.