Sir,
The readers of SOM may recall my letter in this column some time back about calculation of property taxes in Mysuru excluding the depreciation in the property value.
Some time later I sent an e-mail directly to the MCC Commissioner on the same subject, of course, not expecting any response from her.
However, I was pleasantly surprised when I received a call from one of her officers.
Through this letter, I wish to broadcast this prompt gesture on the part of the MCC Commissioner.
However, the response of the officer to my query somewhat intrigued me. He said the MCC had taken a decision many years back not to allow depreciation in calculating the property taxes and, since then, this practice has been followed.
I wonder if this is a legitimate practice and, if not, how the Corporators allowed such a decision to be passed. Shouldn’t the MCC reconsider this decision and restore the practice of allowing depreciation in calculating the property taxes? Any comments?
– K.S. Ramesh, Century Park Layout, Vasanthmahal Road, 10.7.2019
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Not accommodating depreciation while fixing property taxes is both unreasonable and unrealistic. While the tax is collected on the original quality of the building, the value of the building would have been reduced annually due to ageing. The reduced value of the building due to ageing should be computed before working out the property tax. The MCC has been very unreasonable in passing an order not considering depreciation of building value.