Ongole Municipal Corporation passes resolution to hike property tax

Ongole: The Ongole Municipal Corporation Mayor, Gangada Sujatha announced that the council passed the resolution to impose the property tax as per the Levy and Assessment of Property Tax Rules, 2020 issued by the State government, to meet the requirements for funds from the 15th Finance Commission as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.

In the special meeting convened by the Ongole Municipal Corporation on Tuesday, the members expressed various opinions over the imposition of the property tax for the residential, commercial properties and vacant lands.

However, the majority of the members advised the Mayor to take the suitable decision herself in the issue to fix the percentage of property tax. The mayor explained to the House that as per the Levy and Assessment of Property Tax Rules, 2020, all urban local bodies of the same category should impose the same percentage of property tax. She said that they are creating assessments based on the capital value of the property as the guidance value, instead of the annual rental value.

She mentioned that the council didn't revise the property tax for residential buildings since 2002 and commercial buildings since 2007, even though the AP Municipal Corporation Act requires revision of taxes for every five years.

She assured the public that the average tax is observed to be low while shifting from the annual rental value to the capital value-based assessment.

Mayor Sujatha announced that the house passed the resolution to impose the property tax on residential buildings for 0.15 per cent of capital value, in which the general tax is 0.075 per cent, water tax is 0.028 per cent, drainage tax is 0.020 per cent, lighting tax is 0.015 per cent and conservancy tax is 0.012 per cent. On the other hand, the property tax for the commercial buildings is 0.30 per cent including the general tax for 0.15 per cent, water tax for 0.056 per cent, drainage tax for 0.040 per cent, lighting tax for 0.030 per cent and conservancy tax for 0.024 per cent.

For the vacant lands, the corporation is going to impose the property tax of 0.5 per cent in the capital value consisting of the general, water, drainage, lighting and conservancy taxes in the same ratio of residential and commercial buildings.

The Telugu Desam corporators expressed their dissent over the revision of property tax in the council itself while the Janasena party corporator Malaga Ramesh, district vice-president Chittem Prasad, secretary Rayani Ramesh Babu, joint secretary RayapatiAruna, and other leaders protested in front of the Municipal Corporation.