The Hindu Business Line : Interest waived on property tax in AP

THE State Government has waived interest on arrears in property tax in 113 municipalities, giving a relief of Rs 115.32 crore to over 21.24 lakh taxpayers.

Faced with total arrears of Rs 237.71 crore that had placed the municipalities under severe resource crunch, the Government chalked out a `one-time settlement' to allow people in these municipalities to pay their dues by December 31.

Interest already paid by the taxpayers towards property tax on the arrears for the current fiscal would be adjusted against the future payments.

Announcing this here on Monday, Mr K. Rosaiah, Finance Minister, and Mr K. Ranga Rao, Minister for Municipal Administration, said the waiver was not applicable for municipal corporations, including the newly formed Nellore municipal corporation, as they were governed by different rules. Mr Ranga Rao, however, asserted that the offenders would have to pay the interest if they failed to meet the deadline.

These decisions were taken based on recommendations by a Cabinet Sub-Committee comprising Mr Rosaiah, Mr Ranga Rao and Mr Konathala Ramakrishna (Minister for Commercial Taxes).

With regard to elections to municipal bodies, the Ministers said polls would be held as per the schedule. They assured that there would be no reduction in number of wards.

Mr Rosaiah said the Constitutional Amendment called for delimitation based on the latest census. "We are considering the issue accordingly," he said.

On the tax on vacant land, the Government decided to reduce the tax from one per cent to 0.20 per cent.

Even as the Government prepared the one-time settlement scheme to clear huge arrears, it is interesting to note that nearly 40 per cent of the 114 municipalities recorded zero per cent tax collections in the first six months of this fiscal.

While 35 municipalities recorded virtually zero per cent collections, another 15 ended up with near zero collections.

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