Pune: PMC Standing Committee Chairman Rejects Proposal Of 11% Hike In Property Tax
Pune, February 4, 2021: Standing Committee rejected the proposal of an 11 percent tax hike in the Pune Municipal Corporation’s 2020-21 budget plan on Tuesday. Standing Committee Chairman Hemant Rasne said that Municipal corporations could not put the tax burden on the people, and it is the job of PMC to find ways to increase revenue.
The proposal was discarded in the special meeting of the Standing Committee. Earlier, it was speculated that Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar’s proposal to increase the tax would be scrapped due to the municipal general elections in the coming financial year.
Kumar had proposed a hike of 5.5 percent in general tax, 3.5 percent in sanitation tax, and 2 percent in drainage tax to increase income. In January, a proposal tabled in the Standing Committee claimed that the tax hike would add Rs 130 crore.
Taxes of Municipal Corporation were earlier increased in 2015, and since then, the tax was not hiked for six consecutive years. The commissioner had proposed an 11 percent tax hike due to rising inflation. However, the ruling party rejected the proposal as it did not want to upset the people of Pune by raising taxes during elections.
“The Municipal Commissioner’s proposal of tax increase has been rejected. No tax hike will be imposed on the people. Although the Municipal Corporation is facing financial problems, efforts are underway to increase revenue through other ways”, said Rasne, Chairman of the Standing Committee, PMC.
