Online property tax payers rise 270% in Rajkot

RMC advance property tax collection gains 15%

Even as overall property tax collection of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has gained by about 15 per cent in the first two months of 2015-16, the number of online payers of property tax has increased tremendously by 270 per cent in the same period.

RMC had announced a special incentive scheme to pay advance property tax. Women tax payers were offered 15 per cent discount while men tax payers were offered 10 per cent discount for paying advance tax in April and May.

By end of May 31, the civic body collected Rs 88.22 crore as property tax in two months, higher by 15 per cent compared to last year's Rs 76.40 crore.

Of the 164,422 property owners, who paid tax in advance during this period, 33,700 property owners paid it online. Last year 9,219 people used online facility to pay advance property tax.

There are about 350,000 property tax payers in Rajkot registered with the RMC.

Speaking on the surge in online collections, a RMC official said, "To encourage online tax paying, we have given additional incentive of Rs 15, to which we have received a very good response."

The civic body has collected over Rs 14.21 crore from online payers this year in the first two months. Last year online advance tax collection was registered at Rs 4.02 crore during the period.

Overall highest collection has registered in west zone with the civic body netting Rs 41.53 crore followed by central zone garnering Rs 35.89 crore. The collection of east zone stood at Rs 10.80 crore.

For June, RMC has announced an incentive of five per cent for men tax payers and 10 per cent for women tax payers.