Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to digitise all holdings and introduce a third agency to ensure better assessment, billing and collection (ABC) of holding tax.
“Holding tax collection, which was over `35 crore during 2016-17, may go up to `70crore if the ABC is implemented and the civic body double-checks the assessment of its holdings through the agency,” said additional commissioner Alok Kumar Kar.
The civic body has sought proposals from the agencies working in the field of ABC. Sources in the BMC revenue cell said, “properties in BMC area will be enumerated and allocated a seven-digit Unique Property Tax Index Number (UPTIN).”
Already BMC in collaboration with Odisha Remote Sensing Agency (ORSAC) has done a GIS-based mapping of all holdings in Ward No.55, in which, more than 1,400 houses (holdings) are geo-tagged for their authentic assessment. The UPTIN will be done for all properties in two more wards i.e. ward No.30 and 41. This would be jointly done by BMC, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited. Afterwards, all the 65 BMC wards will also replicated for better assessment, billing and collection of holding tax. However, a revenue expert in-charge of Tax Reforms in BMC said, “Initially citizens shall be given a scope of self-declaration of their properties and their use. BMC will scrutinize the declarations at random and if the declaration is found false, then the citizen concerned would be penalised.”
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