kolkata: In the wake of several taxpayers having approached the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the reduction of property taxes due to various financial difficulties they are facing, the civic body’s Hardship Redressal Committee (HRC) has considered 12 such applications where taxes have been waived.
As learnt from KMC sources, the Member Mayor-in-Council (MMIC) meeting of this month had recommended consideration by the HRC for the reduction of property taxes. It is learnt that the civic body received about 20 applications out of which 12 were related to prayer for hardship faced by the applicants.
One Gautam Kumar Sarkar, the taxpayer of a premises at Panchanantala prayed before the committee that he has already paid property tax upto 2015-16.However, he said after this, due to some unavoidable circumstances, he was not in a position to clear the property tax.Also, the applicant said that his brother passed away during the pandemic period, forcing him to take up a job as a security guard. He said that an amount of Rs.40,621 which includes principal amount, interest and penalty, is outstanding.
Following the hearing of the matter, the HRC has asked the assessee to pay only Rs 20,000 in one go and that will be considered as a full and final settlement towards outstanding property tax. In another case, the son of a recorded owner of one premises at Chandra Nath Roy Road appealed to the KMC for waiving his property tax.
The applicant shared that he had inherited the ground floor and the first floor of the property but is not able to pay taxes since his family is facing a severe financial crisis while he is ‘handicapped’.
The applicant also submitted a disability certificate issued by the state government. Following his application, the HRC decided that the ground floor may be exempted from payment of property tax and the first floor may be reassessed after necessary inspection.
Such decisions come at a time when the KMC, despite falling short of revenues, has taken steps to ease the woes of citizens. This includes the withdrawal of the hike in parking fees. The step was taken following the intervention of Mamata Banerjee.
Recently, KMC has also decided to withdraw the market garbage fee for all traders except for ones dealing in food items.