BANGALORE: The cash-strapped BBMP seems to have finally found the loopholes from which it is losing resources.
The ongoing survey to reassess buildings in tech and business parks for property tax has revealed that prestigious IT parks, star hotels, hospitals and other commercial establishments ended up paying less property tax by declaring false information about the built-up area in their buildings.
According to BBMP sources, commercial establishments, including IT parks and hospitals (all with escalator), have to pay `20 per square feet, while hotels (with escalators) have to pay `10 per square feet. With the difference being in thousands of square feet, the BBMP is failing to collect huge amounts of revenue from these establishments.
Issue Brought Up in Council Meeting
In one of the Council meetings held recently, Yediyur Councillor N R Ramesh had argued that Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike is losing revenue as many of the commercial establishments are not paying property tax according to the built-up area in their buildings.
He had also alleged many companies have not yet produced their building details to BBMP.
According to him, the revenue records show only 13 IT parks in the city, but in reality their number is 22.
“Under the self assessment scheme, IT companies in Bangalore together have paid property tax for 69 lakh square feet of built-up area, whereas the market research surveys put the actual occupancy at over 3.5 crore square feet,” Ramesh had stated.
Subsequently, BBMP Commissioner M K Shankaralinge Gowda had issued a note on reassessment survey in IT and other business parks in the city.
In his note, the Commissioner directed officials to identify all tech and business parks in BBMP limits and get a prominent private surveyor to assess the built-up areas in these parks for collection of property tax.
The officials will also check whether the findings match the declarations and if discrepancies are found, they will recover tax dues from the errant firms, the sources added.