Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Dec 27: Defending the hike in property tax approved by the MCC recently, city mayor M Harinath, addressing a press conference here on Monday December 26, clarified that the property tax under the Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) had been implemented by BJP when it was in power. He added that as per the rules of the scheme and under instructions from the state government, property tax in the city has been hiked by 15 percent.
"If we do not increase the property tax in tune with the government circular, there is the looming danger of grants to the city corporation getting pruned down. In addition, the government also has the power to supersede the city municipal council. Therefore, we are left with no other alternative but to fall in line with the government directives," he explained.
Harinath said that a number of development initiatives have been planned for the city, and that the corporation depends on government grants to implementing them. He said that once every three years, the local administration is bound by rules to affect a minimum hike of 15 percent in property tax. "Although there is provision to increase it by 30 percent, we have opted for the minimum hike of 15 percent," he argued in support of this decision.
"Although SAS was implemented in 2002, the then city corporation headed by M Shashidhar Hegde had kept its implementation in abeyance till 2007. When Ganesh Hosabettu of the BJP was the mayor, the scheme was implemented under BJP rule for the first time in 2008-09. Tax was hiked for the first time in 2011 when Praveen was the mayor. It was again hiked when A B Ibrahim was the administrator in 2014. Now we did this increase after receiving two circulars from the state government," he stated.
Harinath said that the corporation has the target of collecting 85 percent of property tax amounting to Rs 45 crore during this year, adding that the collection has alrleady touched Rs 30 crore.
The mayor observed that Vedavyas Kamath of the BJP, who was critical of this decision, seems to be suffering from lack of information about the SAS, insisting that the hike now affected was not done voluntarily, but as per government directives. When concurring that during the election campaigning, his party had promised not to hike property tax, he expressed helplessness in the face of stringent government guidelines. He added that they have already informed former union minister, B Janardhana Poojary, who had expressed displeasure at the property tax hike affected by the corporation, about the government circular.
City corporation whip, M Shashidhar Hegde, chairpersons of standing committees, Kavita Sanil, Basheer Ahmed, Lancelot Pinto and Appi, city corporators, Naveen R D'Souza and D K Ashok Kumar, were present.