Kolkata, Feb. 21 -- In the current fiscal, the revenue collection of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has surpassed Rs 944 crore upto December 2024 while the civic body is presently awaiting state government's approval for implementing the Unit Area Assessment (UAA) method of property tax calculation in three wards under added areas.

According to KMC, the revenue collection by the assessment department in 2023-24 FY had been Rs 1210 crore. In 2024-25, it has already crossed Rs 944 crore, as calculated till December 8, 2024, which is 98.8 per cent of revenue collection of December 2023.

One of the reasons cited for such an increase in property tax collection is owing to the addition of more Waqf premises in the database of the assessment department. It was learnt that on the basis of information furnished by the Waqf Department and with joint inspection reports, it has been possible to visit and inspect such properties in wards 1-100. This will further facilitate the mutation of these properties and help bring more revenues. Further, once a proposed amendment sent to the state government gets approved, KMC will get the power to mutate names of purchasers suo motu. As a result, the purchaser of a property will face no difficulty in getting the property mutated without having to go through the mutation process or visit the KMC office.

Earlier, KMC had set up an inter-linkage between the office of Inspector General, Registration and the computer system of the civic body so that within one to two days of sale of a property, the relevant information reaches KMC. This helped the civic body mutate a property suo motu without waiting for submission of any application for mutation, subject to the fulfilment of necessary conditions.In three wards in Joka (142, 143 and 144), there are a total of 35,000 assesses presently. So far property tax here is being calculated as per the old Annual Rental Valuation method.

For the implementation of UAA, a proposal has been sent to the state government for the formation of a Municipal Valuation Committee. If approved, the taxpayers will be able to pay using such a method and which is expected to boost revenues.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.