MCC questioned for levying property tax at twice the standard rate for building bylaw violations
The current practice of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) imposing property tax at twice the standard rate for building bylaw violations has come under criticism.
Former mayor Sandesh Swamy has stated that imposition of property tax at twice the standard rate in cases where there is a violation of the building bylaw was not legally tenable.
He has written to the MCC stating that double taxation can be levied on owners who have constructed residential or commercial buildings in violation of approved plans only for the first year. 'From the second year onward, only the regular prescribed tax should be collected,' Mr. Sandesh Swamy said, terming the current practice of officials of levying tax at double the rate for every year as wrong.
'Officials must take seriously the State gazette notification that came into effect in 2024, which amended the Karnataka Municipalities Acts of 1964 and 1976,' he said.
The MCC also came in for flak for imposing additional burden on property owners who pay taxes regularly and said there were many government buildings within the MCC limits and no property tax was being levied on them.
'The MCC should initiate measures to regularly collect taxes from government offices as this would increase the municipality's revenue,' said Mr. Sandesh Swamy. On the need to increase revenue generated through property tax, the former mayor said there were tens of thousands of commercial establishments in Mysuru including shops and business fronts of which only about 17,000 have obtained trade licences.
The MCC revenue could be further augmented if a drive was conducted to issue trade licence to every business establishment in the city, he added.
Though the MCC was providing civic amenities to many revenue layouts in the city, it was not collecting property tax, Mr. Sandesh Swamy said, underlining the imperatives of widening the tax net and bringing all revenue layouts under it to mobilise additional resources.
Incidentally, the MCC budget for 2025-26 expects ₹252.60 crore to be collected by way of property tax.
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