Lagging Municipal Property Tax Collection - Inputs Sought

Municipalities continue to perform poorly on property tax collection. In some cities, the collection is only on 10% of the housing. Below are the key solutions, root causes, issues outlined by you to improve Property Tax collection.
Kindly review them and if you have additional specific inputs on the same, please share. It is critical that municipalities become self sufficient rather than being reliant on center and state for grants. We look forward to your inputs!

Swachh Bharat Mission

Improving Property Tax Collection - Key Solutions

1. Not paying property tax should be made illegal
2. People should be educated about the importance of paying property tax and its link to cleanliness in their area
3. Property tax should be made a community objective and tracked at a ward level (At ward level, municipal resources available should be made proportionate to property taxes paid). This will drive the payers in an area to chase non payers for a cleaner/better ward.
4. Steep fines should be imposed on not paying property tax on time
5. Penalty should be applied on paying the property after the due date
6. CCTV cameras should be installed in the department offices to catch the bribe takers and givers
7. The process of paying and tracking property tax at a property and ward level should be made online, simple and user friendly
8. More desks should be opened at the municipal offices to pay property tax
9. Tax collection desks should be opened at the specified time and should be manned through the day
10. There should be set parameters to calculate property tax payable for each property
11. The property tax collection system should be computerized and should be linked to the Registrar of Property database
12. The rate of property tax should be reduced and the scope expanded
13. The municipality should release a statement every year showing the amount collected and how it was spent
14. Nationalized banks should be authorized to collect property tax
15. After the expiry of certain period and proper notice the tax arrears property should be auctioned to collect the tax
16. Give concessions to the past non-payers and encourage them to pay the dues
17. The loyal tax payers should be rewarded by giving some discounts
18. Unpaid property tax should also be liable for heavy interest penalties.


Property Tax Collection: Key Issues and Root Causes:

1. Many property owners have not paid property tax for years
2. Many people are ignorant about paying property tax
3. Municipal corporation has not declared harsh fines on not paying property tax on time
4. There is major corruption in the property tax department
5. Department employees take bribes to reduce the tax
6. Paying property tax is a tough task through the online method
7. There are long queues in the municipal offices
8. Many times, the property tax payment counters don’t open even by 11am
9. There is no penalty in delay of property tax payment
10. There is no encouragement for people to pay property tax
11. The municipal corporation does not have enough powers to enforce the collection of property tax
12. Most municipalities do not calculate the tax correctly
13. The is little accountability of concerning officers
14. A reason for the poor collection of property taxes is non-updation of the data bases of the Municipal corporations and non- linkage of the same with the Registrar of Property. more