Property Tax will be Reduced to Half: Mayor

Property Tax will be Reduced to Half: Mayor

20October 2009

The mayor has promised that the property taxes in Mangalore, which have been severely criticized and opposed ever since their implementation last April, will be reduced to half. The new tax rates will be announced after the state government takes a decision about it. The mayor said that the department of urban development and the directorate of municipal administration have already agreed to the tax reduction. 

The urban development minister and the chief minister will take part in a meeting of the mayors of the 7 city corporations in Karnataka to be held on Thursday. The mayor said that the local MLAs and the in-charge minister will take this opportunity to speak to the chief minister. He said that a decision on tax reduction might be taken at the next cabinet meeting. He said: “The issue would have been raised at an earlier cabinet meeting. However, that meeting was postponed because of the North Karnataka floods.” 

The mayor hopes that more people will step forward to pay their taxes after the reduction. He said: “So far, only 18 percent of the people have paid their taxes. Once a definite decision is taken, we expect tax collections to soar. As against the earlier projected collection of Rs. 40 crores under the property taxes, I feel we can revise the target downwardly to Rs 30 crores during this fiscal year.”