- No holidays on Apr. 14 and 15
- Tax desks open at all nine Zonal Offices
- Owners can avail 5% rebate till Apr. 30
Mysore/Mysuru: All the nine Zonal Offices of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) are abuzz with cash counting sounds as thousands of people are visiting them daily to pay their annual Property Tax for the year 2022-2023.
A rebate of 5 percent announced from April 1 to April 30 has further encouraged the taxpayers and from April 1 to April 12, the MCC has collected Rs. 14,24,80,145 from both online and offline mediums.
While some property owners are paying taxes online from the comforts of their homes, others who are not comfortable with online payments are standing in long queues in front of the Zonal Offices.
From April 1 to April 11, Rs. 12,38,88,704 was collected from 15,661 properties and yesterday alone, Rs. 1,85,91,441 was collected from 2,356 properties. In all, Rs. 14,24,80,145 has been collected from 18,017 properties. In all, there are 1,88,000 properties including revenue properties that come under MCC jurisdiction.
As it is an annual affair, the MCC has made arrangements of shamiyana, chairs and drinking water at all the nine Zonal Offices and there are counters where people can go and clarify their doubts and obtain the exact amount to be paid as Property Tax. MCC employees behind the counters are examining the previous year’s tax assessment and receipts to calculate this year’s taxes.
Last year, the MCC collected Rs. 162.43 crore as against a target of Rs. 205.05 crore. Along with the online system, the existing offline system too was put in place last year where the MCC teams visited house-to-house collecting taxes. This year too, MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy has asked the officers to mop up tax collection, MCC’s In-charge Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Rangaswamy told Star of Mysore.
Tomorrow (Apr. 14) is Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti and Mahavir Jayanti and Apr. 15 is Good Friday and all Government Offices and banks are closed. “We have decided to open the tax counters at all the nine Zonal Offices so as not to inconvenience the tax-payers and we do not want to turn them away. The respective Revenue Officers will be there along with other staff to collect payments. As banks are closed, cash can be paid at MysoreOne Centres,” he added.
The MCC Zonal Offices are located at Yadavagiri, Hebbal, Seshadri Iyer Road, Agrahara, FTS Circle, Gayathripuram, Udayagiri, Sharadadevinagar and near Jayanagar Railway Gate.
Property Tax is collected from the owners by the local Municipal authority and this is the main source of revenue for the MCC to provide basic amenities, healthcare and education within the city limits.
“As per the directive from the Commissioner, officers are undertaking door-to-door surveys to collect Trade Licence fee and there is a good response for that too. We have been able to recover the dues that have been lying uncollected for years,” Rangaswamy added.
Are they collecting cleaning charges for vacant sites like last year ? No cleaning was ever done but the taxes are being collected.