Alright folks, buckle up for some interesting news coming out of Pune! The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has come up with a unique idea to recover property tax arrears – they’re playing a music band in front of defaulters’ properties! That’s right, for the past four days, the band has been making some noise in front of 150 properties and guess what? They’ve managed to recover a whopping Rs 11.19 crore! Talk about innovative tactics, right?
The Taxation and Tax Collection Department at PMC is on a mission to boost the city’s revenue. With rising expenditures, the property tax collection target is also on the rise. For the upcoming fiscal year 2024-25, the budget aims to collect a hefty Rs 2,700 crore in property tax.
So far, out of 14.80 lakh properties, 8.73 lakh have already paid Rs 1,802 crore in taxes from April 1st to December 5th. But with three months left in the financial year, the department is facing the challenge of collecting an additional Rs 900 crore. It’s crunch time, folks!
The department is focusing on recovering arrears from commercial buildings, warehouses, offices, and residential properties, with arrears totaling around Rs 4,500 crore. Some cases are still pending in court, adding to the complexity of the situation. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Madhav Jagtap emphasized the importance of maximizing revenue in the next three months.
To expedite the process, a band team comprising musicians and PMC employees has been deployed to collect taxes from defaulters across 15 ward offices. And the results speak for themselves – 154 property owners have already coughed up Rs 11.19 crore in just four days. Some citizens have even voluntarily paid Rs 20 crore in fear of further action. It looks like the music band strategy is striking a chord with defaulters!
Stay tuned for more updates on PMC’s innovative tactics to boost revenue and crack down on property tax defaulters in Pune. It’s definitely an interesting time to be a taxpaying citizen in the city!
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