PUNE: Citizens’ groups have demanded the scrapping of the proposed amnesty scheme for property tax defaulters, stating that previous schemes have proven to be ineffective.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) introduced the amnesty scheme for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, offering discounts to tax defaulters after payment of dues. The civic body reintroduced the scheme for the 2021-2022 fiscal.
“The repeated introduction of such schemes sends the wrong message to diligent taxpayers. Many property tax defaulters who availed the scheme benefits defaulted on the tax again. The scheme is leading to a loss of revenue for the civic administration,: said Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch, a citizens’ group.
The group wrote a letter to the civic administration on Tuesday.
According to the data collected through the Right to Information Act (RTI) by the group, the civic administration incurred a loss of Rs 129 crore and Rs 64 crore in the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, when the scheme was introduced.
A senior civic official said the administration is planning to introduce the scheme to recover the dues. “Despite repeated attempts, many defaulters are not clearing their dues. The administration is making sure property owners are not taking undue advantage of the scheme,” the official said.
“The administration will study all the merits and demerits of the scheme. The aspects such as misuse of the conditions in the past will be studied before implementing the initiative,” said another senior official of PMC.
As per the data collected through RTI, as many as 1,49,683 property owners benefited from the tax rebate in 2020-2021, and the administration waived around Rs 210 crore. Of those beneficiaries, around 42%, i.e., 63,518 property owners, defaulted on the tax again.
The scheme was reintroduced in 2021-2022, and 66,464 property owners availed benefits of the scheme. Of those, nearly 67%, i.e., 44,685 property owners, defaulted on the tax again. The tax department had offered a 75% discount in penalty charges as part of the amnesty programme.
“We have been paying our taxes regularly for years, but we don’t get any special benefits for our diligent payments. The defaulters, however, get preferential treatment. It may discourage many property owners from paying the tax on time,” said Ashwini Pathak, a resident of Kothrud.
