‘Civic body sending messages to tax defaulters; if they fail to reply, notices will be served to defaulters for unpaid dues’.
NEW DELHI
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had started sending a message to the 10 lakh defaulters who had not paid property tax in the last one or two years. MCD had also imposed property tax on houses in villages that are less than 200 square metres, said Yogesh Varma, a BJP councillor. He said MCD has threatened and created so much pressure on the public that they will seal their houses if they don’t pay property tax. “The BJP was not against taxes but for those people who cannot pay property tax like farmers who work in their small areas and are economically poor, there will be no loss in MCD by waiving tax,” said Raja Iqbal Singh, leader of the Opposition.
MCD had reviewed the summary of taxpayers for the last four years and identified around 10 lakh cases where people had not paid taxes for the last one or two years. The civic body has started sending messages to such tax defaulters. “They are being given time to submit their replies. If they fail to reply, then we will serve notices to such taxpayers,” said an official.
MCD has taken this step recently to track those who have not filed property taxes in a year or two and also to update their records and increase the tax net. An official of MCD said, “Despite coming out with so many amnesty schemes in the past and giving major rebates, there are people who are not paying their taxes or making incomplete payments. Such a practice is unfair, as honest taxpayers have been paying their taxes regularly. We are checking the records of commercial as well as residential properties.”
On the other hand, Yogesh Verma, a BJP councillor from Ashok Vihar said that since they came into power, they have increased the house tax. “Now they have also increased it, and along with this, they have sent a notice regarding the assessment of the house tax.” Verma said MCD had not maintained its record. And now they are telling people to show the receipt. “Not only this, they have also started to harass the people of villages who have made a one-room set on their agricultural land by imposing property tax. Earlier, it was exempt for those who have 200-square-metre houses. Now they have also given notice to them.” He said so much pressure was being put on the public, and “they also threatened that if they did not pay taxes, they would seal their properties”.
Former mayor and leader of Opposition in MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh, told The Sunday Guardian, “I think there is a malafide intention; they want inspector rule, and they have increased the taxes; not only this, but the tax factor has also increased, and people’s taxes have doubled or tripled.” He further said that the Aam Aadmi Party became a VIP people’s party instead of a common man’s party. “Now what will the villagers do? They will come to the city for work or business. Due to the city becoming more crowded, we want our brothers from the villagers to do work in their villages and live happily, but this government has started troubling them”, he said.