In what could come as a setback to Delhiites, property tax in the city could soar as the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has come out with a plan to collect Rs 3,850 crore as revenue from house tax in the financial year 2022-23 and the fifth Municipal Valuation Committee (MVC) has recommended an increase in six factors which are used to calculate the annual value of a property.
In the financial year 2021-2022, the three civic bodies collected around Rs 2,000 crore. As many as 12 lakh households registered for property tax collection.
The MVC said in its recommendations made in an interim report to the MCD that an increase in the six factors used to calculate a property’s value is needed due to inflation.
The MCD has uploaded the report on its website and issued a public notice inviting objections from the general public. Colonies in Delhi have been divided into eight categories from A to H. A and B category colonies comprise posh areas, C and D middle class neighbourhoods, E and F lower middle-class areas, and G and H unauthorised colonies. The base unit area value for category A colonies is Rs 630 currently, Rs 500 for category B, Rs 400 for category C, Rs 320 for category D, Rs 270 for category E, Rs 230 for category F, Rs 200 for category G and Rs 100 for category H. The proposed values are Rs 800 for category A, Rs 680 for category B, Rs 550 for category C, Rs 440 for category D and Rs 370 for category E.
Additionally, the MVC has also recommended 1.1 and 1.2 as the ‘age factor’ for buildings constructed from 2010 to 2019 and 2020 to 2029, respectively. "The age factor is 0.5 for properties constructed in the 1950s, ‘0.6’ for those in the 1960s and ‘1’ for those built between 2000 and 2010.
According to a senior MCD official, the property tax department is the backbone of the civic body in terms of revenue generation. The civic body has planned a massive campaign in unauthorised colonies to create awareness about property tax, and ease the process of payment of property tax for Delhiites.
The MCD will conduct a door-to-door campaign in JJ colonies along with the form through which the people can easily file property tax. Besides, they will also distribute pamphlets about the tax.
In the financial year 2021-2022, the trifurcated South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had the highest property tax collection worth Rs 1,081 crore.