Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Jul 30: In the midst of the accusations that are being heard of the gram panchayats showing carelessness in collecting taxes, in order to achieve financial self-reliance, gram panchayats of the coastal region have collected a record amount in taxes.
Gram panchayats of Dakshina Kannada (DK) district have collected 68.34% of the tax target and have secured the first place in the state and a model for other gram panchayats to emulate. Uttara Kannada district is in the second place with 65.44% and Udupi district is in the third position with 51.04% collection of taxes.
This is a grand double achievement by Dakshina Kannada district, which also holds the distinction of being the highest in electricity bill payment also. The state government intends the gram panchayats to become self-reliant by accumulating their own resources. But most of the gram panchayats did not utilize the power given to them and were negligent in deciding the tax amount, revision of taxes and collection of the same.
An opportunity is provided to the gram panchayats, under the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act of 1993, to impose taxes on the non-agricultural land that falls under their limits. In the DK district, Rs 26.59 crore tax is collected from 230 gram panchayats in the fiscal of 2017-18 and Rs 12.31 crore is pending to be collected. In the district of Udupi the amount of tax collected is Rs 15.36 crore and Rs 14.73 crore is pending for collection. This is comparatively much higher than other districts of the state as per the information given by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
Kalaburgi district in the last position
The target of tax collection in the district of Kalburgi was Rs 9.17 crore from the 264 gram panchayats. However, only Rs 12.89 lac is collected. Similarly, the target for the district of Bidar was Rs 5.94 crore from 185 gram panchayats. But the collected amount is only Rs 55.96 lac. Yadagiri district has mustered only Rs 76.93 lac against the intended target of Rs 3.55 crore from 123 gram panchayats.
Fall in tax revision
The gram panchayats were given the authority to revise the taxes in order to stress the collection of taxes. However, there is an accusation that most of the gram panchayats have not made use of this special power. There are 6024 gram panchayats in the state of Karnataka. Though an amendment to the tax was brought in 2015, only 1421 gram panchayats have revised the taxes.
As many as 96 gram panchayats of DK distirct, 88 of Udupi, 71 of Bengaluru city and 37 gram panchayats of Kodagu have not revised the taxes in the past four years. In addition, 417 gram panchayats of Belgavi, 273 of Tumkur, 216 of Mandya and 211 of Kalburgi have also failed to revise the taxes.