BHUBANESWAR: A day after the State government suspended collection of holding tax in the city as per the revised benchmark value of 2019, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday said the tax will be collected as per the old slab even as it will hit revenue collection.
Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said the civic body will also adjust or return excess amount to those who had paid holding taxes as per the revised rate for 2019-20 and 2020-21 if the High Court issues any such order in its final hearing on the matter.
The civic body had increased the holding tax after revision of benchmark value of land cost in the State Capital by the General Administration department from February 2019. It was collecting 50 per cent of the revised holding tax for 2019-20 and 2020-21 on the basis of an interim order of the High Court last year.
The Commissioner said the holding tax had been hiked after consultations with stakeholders as it had remained unchanged since 1992. Besides, it was also meant to augment BMC’s revenues so that it could render better services to people. “The decision will now hit our revenue collection target. However, BMC will comply with the government order,” Chaudhary said.
With the current fiscal coming to an end in the next two weeks and tax hike being suspended, BMC may not even cross the halfway mark of its target, said an official. The government order has also affected other financial commitments of the civic body. Deputy Commissioner for revenue Srimanta Mishra said the civic body had launched an exercise to collect pending holding tax worth `43 crore from 804 big defaulters and the decision to suspend the hiked rate may affect it.
