Mysore/Mysuru: If you have more than 1,000 square feet of open space on any side of your house, you are liable to pay more tax to the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC). As per the order from the State Government, such property owners are liable to pay more per square feet in addition to the property tax they are already paying.
This move has, however, come under flak from the residents and business community of the city who have termed it as unfair. “Yes, we have open space in front of our house and the backyard and we are using the space to grow greenery. To tax this space is ridiculous,” said a house owner who has got a tax notice of Rs. 28,000. Till now he was paying Rs. 8,000 as property tax.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy said that the State Government has passed an order to levy the tax and the MCC was just following the rule.
“It has been implemented across the State as there is an amendment in the law after the Cabinet approval and after it has been passed in the Assembly. It is not the initiative of the MCC and has come into force from April this year,” he said.
Explaining the tax, Lakshmikantha Reddy said that the tax is applicable to all the residential and commercial properties that have more than 1,000 square feet area excluding the building. This will affect only the upper middle class and the rich, he clarified. Those who have more land must naturally pay more and those who have just a house and a small space around will not be affected, he added.
The open space tax is calculated in the manner in which all vacant sites are taxed. The existing guidance value of 25 percent is considered while calculating the tax. MCC officers said that the revised tax, its slabs and other details have been uploaded on the MCC website and since April this year, revised tax rates are being charged as per the Government order.
Expressing shock over the move that too at a time when people were facing hardships due to the COVID-19, the residents and businessmen have appealed to the Government to immediately withdraw the hike.
They termed the hike as rubbing salt into their wounds. “At a time when people from all walks of life were experiencing loss in one way or the other due COVID, such a hike was unwarranted,” said a resident.
What a logic posed by MCC. Plot owners have paid for their plot, are paying taxes for the constructed portion. Now this new rule of 1000 sq feet any side imposes additional taxes. A bunglow plot will definetly have 1000 sq ft as per the corporation rules in front and in side, why they should pay tax which is higher than building tax? A moral learnt from this dragonic rule is , have a concrete jungle, do not have greenery, do not have any empty space . Let citizens choke due to lack of open space.
I am surprised by this news item. This has been extensively covered in the past several times. I am even more surprised by the explanation given by the MCC commissioner. He gives the impression that residents are justified in opposing the tax for vacant land, but he has to obey the government order.
Even at the risk of getting brickbats, let me give a simple example to show why MCC is fully justified in imposing tax on vacant land. Let us assume there are two houses of similar size – one located with less than 1000 sq ft vacant land and another on a huge land with 5000 sq ft of vacant land. Today in Mysuru, the second house will command extremely high price because of the appreciation for land. Is MCC justified in charging the same tax on both these properties as per old tax laws? The basic idea behind property tax is that it should be based on the value of the property. Based on this principle, a house located on large tract of land though small should pay higher taxes. We all want MCC to provide us with several services – garbage handling, road lighting, taking care of roads, parks, etc. Who will pay for them? As they say there is no free lunch though all of us would like to pay the least amount of taxes.
Next they will charge for ‘aaradi by mooradi’ space. So even in death you will not escape tax.
MCC can also start taxing those who have roof top gardens. It can generate more revenue for them to waste on useless projects like the monstrous building next to commercial tax department building.
At this rate Mysore will loose its old charm of being a garden city and will become a concrete jungle like Bangalore and Bombay
Folks, if you have a house with it a vacant land over the government prescribed limit, you have to cough up the tax. That simple. To be fair, the Karnataka government is not doing anything different from what every government in a Western country does. Otherwise, sell the house with the land move into an apartment.