The Panvel Municipal Corporation collected a significant amount of Rs 165 crore from property taxes during the financial year 2022-23. As a result, PMC has decided to offer property owners a 5 percent reduction in the current property tax bill until May 31, 2023. The local administration also promoted the use of digital payment methods for property tax and provided incentives to proprietors of solar energy and rainwater harvesting societies.
The Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) managed to collect a significant amount of Rs 165 crore from property taxes during the financial year 2022-23. In an effort to offer more incentives to property owners, PMC has now decided to provide a 5 percent reduction in the current property tax bill. Until May 31, 2023.
Despite some residents' objections to the PMC's retrospective tax collection, the local authority experienced a significant increase in tax revenue in the 2022-23 fiscal year, with a 50 percent rise compared to the previous year.
Since the previous year, the municipal corporation conducted hearings in each of the four wards to address all grievances voiced by citizens regarding property taxes. Furthermore, the property division made corrections to errors on the property tax statements of individuals finally offering four tiers of reduced fines for property tax payment delays.
According to an official from PMC's property tax department, the residents of the CIDCO area were offered discounts of 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent, and 25 percent over time. Subsequently, following January 1, 2023, the municipal authority implemented a more rigorous regulation, with a 100 percent penalty surcharge imposed upon delayed payments.
The local administration also promoted the use of digital payment methods for property tax, providing a 2 percent extra rebate for payments conducted through online channels. Furthermore, proprietors of solar energy societies were granted a 2 percent concession in property tax, while those in rainwater harvesting societies were also offered a 2 percent concession. We provided a 2 percent deduction as an incentive to those who separated wet and dry waste.
The local government created the "PMC TAX APP" smartphone application and QR code to enhance the ease of paying property tax for the public. To circumvent any financial detriment to the corporation, the civic authority undertook the task of collecting taxes directly from commercial properties located within the transferred areas of CIDCO and MIDC.
In the interim, the Bombay High Court rejected a writ petition filed by Kharghar Co-operative Housing Societies Federation Ltd. challenging the retrospective tax collection by the corporation. The petition was rejected by the court as it did not have any legal or factual basis; therefore, it was considered inadmissible and unsustainable. Currently, there are three other appeals awaiting consideration by the High Court pertaining to the collection of taxes.
The process of collecting taxes has been continuously ongoing since the inception of PMC. In the past six fiscal years, the revenue collection has been as follows: Rs 41.57 crore in 2016-17, Rs 15.97 crore in 2017-18, Rs 24.43 crore in 2018-19, Rs 10.50 crore in 2019-20, Rs 14.87 crore in 2020-21, considerable amount of Rs 95.29 crore in 2021-22. During the financial year of 2022-23, a significant sum of Rs 165.15 crore was amassed.
The Panvel Municipal Council was established in 1852 and the Panvel Municipal Corporation came into existence on October 1, 2016. The PMC includes Panvel city, 29 villages, Taloja MIDC and CIDCO areas and several gram panchayats.
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