J'khand's urban local bodies' property tax collections at 106 cr in FY18

Innovations and reforms, including the introduction of PPP mode, have helped Jharkhand garner Rs 105.6 crore in property tax collections by its urban local bodies in the 2017-18 fiscal, a top state official has said.

The public private partnership (PPP) mode in property tax collection in the state was initiated with steps like roping in professional collection agency besides promoting online transactions to augment revenue.

"Boosted by steps to enhance property tax collection, its share in own (holding tax and other collections) revenue has increased from 19 per cent to 51 per cent in the last five years. The tax collection reached Rs 105.6 crore for 41 urban local bodies in 2017-18 from a mere Rs 10.35 crore in 2013-14," according to Arun Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources Department, Jharkhand.

Singh, who was earlier at the helm of affairs of the commercial tax department in the state, in a recent presentation to NITI Aayog said the state's per capita property tax revenue has increased from Rs 99.25 per household to Rs 1,006 per household while introduction of PPP mode has resulted in decrease in arrears by 20 per cent.

He claimed that archaic legal framework has been done away with and the system was revamped.

"Now there are recovery rules to deal with defaulters with right for attachment of property and freezing of bank accounts. To promote digital payments, rebate is given for online payment," he told NITI Aayog.

The official said the state has adopted IT-based property tax management system and ensured real-time availability of information.

"As a result of the measures to revamp the system, the number of assessed property in the state increased from 4.37 lakh in 2016-17 to 6.40 lakh till October 2018," he said adding that the increase in assessment is by 44.3 per cent.

Also these led to decreasing of unassessed households by 35 per cent, he added.

He claimed that the state government is going to initiate a number of steps like plans to introduce GIS mapping and integration with RFID tag.

"This will reduce unassessed cases," he said and added that the state government is also planning to introduce Nagar Prahari scheme to curb under-assessment and unassessed households.