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Last week during a meeting held in Pune, the State Cabinet approved a proposal to offer a forty percent discount on property tax to owners of self-occupied properties in the city. While this move may provide relief to property owners, it is likely to cause the government to lose revenue of at least Rs. 400 crores.
The news was confirmed by Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil who claimed the discount had been a long-pending demand from citizens. The chief minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had spoken about reviving this discount in an official meeting held last month.
The discount in question was first introduced in 1970 for self-occupied properties within the PMC limits. However, it was never enacted or implemented by the state government. In 2019 it was declared illegal and scarped, after which in early 2022 the civic body send out SMSs to over 60,000 property owners to recover additional tax backdated with effect from 2019.
These backdated collections met with heavy protest and discontentment amongst residents. Forcing the government to eventually stop collection of these dues. With the formal introduction of the forty percent discount, the civic body has declared that all arrears collected in this regard between 2019 and 2022 will be adjusted with future bills.
Official approval is still underway. The proposal has been submitted to the various departments such as finance and law for clearance. The chief minister’s office has official cleared it.
The deadline for property tax payment with discounted rates has been extended, and property owners who pay before May 31st will receive a rebate of 5-10%. The scheme has previously been extended until the end of June in both 2020 and 2021 by the administration.
PMC officials have reported a delay in sending out bills this year due to the cabinet's delay, and they estimate that they would have collected about Rs. 300 crores by mid-April if the bills were sent on time. PMC officials will begin distributing bills after the decision's notification, seeking help from post offices for distribution instead of private agencies used previously.
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