BBMP is considering to bring all paying guest (PG) hostels and service apartments under commercial tax net.
Yediyur Councillor N R Ramesh said when he asked the officials concerned to give a list of PG hostels in the city, they told him there are only 272 PG hostels. “According to officials, there is one PG hostel in Bommanahalli zone, four in Yelahanka, 22 in West, 58 in Mahadevapura, while there is no PG hostel in Rajarajeshwarinagar and Dasarahalli zones,” he said.
Ramesh said the city has more than 8,000 PG hostels. BWSSB considers them as commercial entities for collecting water bills, but BBMP treats them as residential properties. “If we impose commercial tax on these PG hostels we can generate around `60 crore every year,” he said.
In his reply, Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said he will ask Assistant Revenue Officer to direct Tax Inspectors to collect ward-wise details of PG hostels. There are 64 AROs in BBMP who have to give the report by next Council meeting. As per Self Assessment Scheme, PG accommodations are considered as tenanted accommodation. Therefore, we are collecting tax accordingly. “We need to bring PG accommodation under commercial tax net. This has to come to council through Taxation and Finance Committee,” he said.