The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun is lending final touches to its preparations for issuing house tax notices to building owners in the State capital from June 1. The MCD executive is also slated to hold its meet on Friday in which various issues, including the budget, are listed for discussion.
The previous MCD Board had approved the self assessment system for house tax collection in order to facilitate collection of taxes on the large number of buildings for which tax is still not collected by the corporation. However, the execution of this proposal was stalled by the State Government. later the State Government had issued an order directing the corporation to collect house tax on the basis of rental value of the building.
Recently, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli had directed officials to make preparations for issuing house tax notices to the building owners in Dehradun. Talking to The Pioneer on Thursday, Chamoli said that final touches are being given to the preparations. Notices for house tax collection will be issued from June 1 based on the rental value of the building. In the first phase, the house tax on new buildings will be collected after which the tax on buildings for which it is already being paid, will be calculated afresh based on rental value.
The corporation expects to earn about Rs10 crore a year through house tax on about one lakh buildings in the municipal area. It is worth mentioning that the MCD has for long been facing shortages of funds, infrastructure and organisational aspects. Collection of house tax is considered to be one of the major sources of revenue for the corporation.