NEW DELHI: South Delhi Municipal Corporation on Tuesday proposed to hike property tax levied on residential and commercial properties while reducing the number of existing rate slabs to boost its revenue.
In his budget speech, SDMC commissioner Gyanesh Bharti said residential, commercial and non-residential plots (of up to 150 sqm) were divided into three categories in the city — A-B; C-E and F-H categories. “I propose that for the financial year 2022-23, the number of categories be reduced from three to two — A-E and F-H,” said Bharti while presenting the revised budget estimates for 2021-22 and budget estimates for 2022-23 at the Civic Centre.
This is the last budget presentation for the civic body before it goes to polls next year. Elections to the three municipal corporations — South, East and North — are scheduled for April. The budget was presented early on this year, which usually happens in the second week of December, because of the upcoming polls. The tax hike, however, is unlikely to be approved by the house, as elections are due.
For residential properties in A-E category, the tax hike has been proposed to be 14%, instead of existing 12%; while for F-H category, 12% tax rate has been proposed, as against 7% previously, he said.
For the commercial category, in the A-D category, it is proposed to be 15%, and 12 % in the E-H category; and 20% for the special category. Current rates are 15% tax in A-B category, 12 % in C-E category and 10% in F-H category. Bharati said that property tax rates in A to E slabs had not been raised in the past 10 years.
Some of the new projects that the civic body will take up in the next financial year include the opening of dispensaries in each municipal ward. To mark the 75th year of India’s Independence, the civic body has proposed to build Shaheedi Park and Bollywood Park, which will be developed like the ‘Bharat Darshan Park’ where replicas of monuments have been built by artists out of waste material.