Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Lakshmikanth Reddy on Tuesday said the classification of commercial properties in the MCC limits for tax collection will be discontinued and property tax on such properties will henceforth be levied under the category of “commercial” without categorising them.
The Commissioner gave this assurance when a delegation of traders and businessmen under the banner of Federation of Organisations and Associations of Mysuru met him in connection with the problems faced by them with regard to the MCC’s tax system and trade licence. They argued the tax structure, particularly for commercial properties, has become a burden with differential taxing of properties.
Instead of categorising the commercial properties as ‘A’ and ‘B’ and levying taxes, tax for such properties should be levied entirely as ‘commercial’ properties without any distinction in the extent of tax charged, the Federation said, after the meeting.
The Federation said in a release that the Commissioner told the delegation that steps will be taken to bring all commercial properties in the MCC limits under one category and property tax from them would be collected without classifying them. This is expected to ease the tax burden on marriage halls, cinema theatres, commercial complexes, lodges and others from next year. The proposal will be placed before the next council meeting.
The Commissioner, however, told the delegation that the outstanding property taxes have to be paid at the earliest and there won’t be any concession on the payment of dues.
The council will take a decision on discontinuing collecting additional cess based on facilities such as air-conditioners, power generators and borewells. “The MCC will also look into the tax burden on properties that lack CR for trade licence. For old buildings, the tax is collected based on current construction cost. The traders want the tax to be devalued when the building gets older. This issue will also be brought to the notice of the council,” the Commissioner said in the meeting.
Also, a decision on introducing the procedure of issuing ‘B’ khatas to properties will be taken in the next council meeting. This is expected to bring revenue to the MCC, he added.
The depreciation of tax will also be discussed in the council meeting.
“The MCC has no powers to act on certain matters which could only be brought to the notice of the State Government. Whatever petitions you give to me will be sent to the government, be it the issue of additional cess collected for vacant sites or other issues for which there are specific government orders. Issues that could be sorted out locally will be looked into by the MCC. The corporation is also ready to issue trade licences to those who are running the trades with valid NOCs,” said the release quoting Mr. Reddy.
After the Federation expressed its unhappiness over the “banner campaign” of the MCC for recovering the property tax dues, the Commissioner said the matter will be looked at and the MCC will ensure that there won’t be any cut in basic amenities to the defaulters.
Federation President B.S. Prashanth, Vice-President C. Narayana Gowda and other officer-bearers were present.
Former Mayor Bhyrappa also questioned the MCC’s act of putting up banners on the properties of defaulters. “When the MCC was not able to recover taxes from certain people for years, it resorted to this drive to recover taxes from those who had kept the dues for two to three years,” he said.
Published - November 16, 2021 06:55 pm IST
