The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has issued work orders for the roll out of online payment of property tax with effect from April 1.
MCC Commissioner Gurudutt Hegde told The Hindu that digitisation of records in the property register is on and the data will be fed into the systems while software is being developed for the online calculation of tax.
“We are working hard to ensure that the system is in place from April 1 as it marks the beginning of the new financial year’’, said Mr. Hegde.
A long-pending project which had many false starts but failed to take off, its implantation to a large extent hinges on the completion of the existing property survey in the MCC limits but is yet to take off.
But Mr. Hegde said the window available for completion of the property survey is exactly two months and though it is a difficult task, it was not impossible.
The Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR) project has completed the property survey and has developed a database for all properties in Mysuru city besides about 40 villages surrounding it coming under the MUDA jurisdiction. But the MCC was keen to conduct its own property survey given specific requirements for tax calculation.
“The UPOR records will give us data pertaining to the plot dimension and its geographical coordinates with relation to other properties etc. But for the calculation of property tax we also need the land usage, the quality of construction determined on the basis of use of granites, tiles, marble etc, the quality of wood used etc., and this calls for a fresh survey’’, said Mr. Hegde.
In case the survey cannot be completed by April 1, MCC may migrate to the online system with the existing database and records that are being digitalised and carry out the survey later. “If the two-month window to complete the survey and update the data base is too short, we may even roll out the online taxation system with the existing records, and carry out the corrections if any on completion of the survey’’, he added. However, the thrust is on completing the survey within the available time and roll out the system.
Intriguingly, online payment of property tax is being pushed by NGOs such as Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) since more than a decade but the officials had persisted with the current cumbersome method of spot payment. The reason extended was that any new system had to be approved by the Directorate of Municipal Administration. However, the MCC Commissioner said it was not true and many city corporations had switched over to the online payment system 10 years ago.
The online payment will be a more transparent process and eliminate the inconsistencies in tax calculation and help shore up the revenue mobilisation.
