PANJIM: Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Mayor Rohit Monserrate on Tuesday said that only 40 to 50 percent of the house owners within CCP’s jurisdiction pay their taxes regularly while the rest default.
Speaking to reporters, he said, “There are two-three things. Some are legacy issues. Then you have the market issue. They have not paid rent since 2003 when the market was first built. Now, due to compound interest, it has accumulated to Rs 20-25 crore. In the CCP building there is also an issue. An amount of around Rs seven crore is pending. The rest of the thing is house rent. Out of all the taxpayers only 40 per cent actually pay house tax and the rest just default.”
The Mayor said it places an unnecessary burden on the corporation which finds itself in a difficult situation when it has to make payment to its workers who are engaged in keeping the city clean.
He urged people to pay taxes on time and added that in 2016, the rates were hiked without following proper procedure due to which many people started defaulting.
Monserrate said the Corporation is planning to generate revenue by commercialising all its properties which will help it reduce the burden on taxpayers.
He said plans are afoot to sign agreement with market tenants which will generate revenue of around Rs 8 crore.
“The agreement is to be signed. Earlier, there was one procedure which was not followed. We are getting that rectified. Once that is done then we will send the agreement to the government for approval. The market tenants also have given their word that once the agreement is ready, they will sign. Once this is done, we can get at least Rs 8-9 crore immediately,” he added.
