Two Bills on municipal taxation adopted

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 2. The Legislative Assembly on Thursday adopted two Bills of far- reaching consequence to the municipal corporations and municipalities in the State in the matter of taxation including the introduction of self-assessment of property tax.

The House passed the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2000 and the Karnataka Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2000 amid a walk-out by the BJP members who were protesting against the provision to levy infrastructure and solid waste management cesses.

Under Section 103B of the Corporations Bill, the civic bodies can levy and collect (notwithstanding the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act of 1957) an infrastructure cess at a rate not exceeding Rs. 500 a year on every motor vehicle used on the roads of the city.

In addition, the Corporation can levy a solid waste management cess at a rate not exceeding Rs. 1,000 a year on the owners or occupiers of buildings or lands in the city for the collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste at different rates.

The Opposition members said that the two Bills would increase the tax burden on the urban population.

The identical statements on objects and reasons for the two Bills say that it had become necessary to amend the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act of 1976 to simplify the procedure and introduce the system of self-assessment of property tax.

The other provisions of the Bills include abolition of the system of determining the value on the basis of the annual gross rent which may reasonably be expected from a building and introduce a system of assessment of the property based on the taxable capital value by considering the estimated market value of the land and the building.

They also provide for the levy of property tax with reference to location, type of construction, nature of use etc., of the building, collect service charges in respect of property exempted from property tax and impose penalties on ``unlawful buildings'' and failure to submit tax returns (50 per cent).

Mr. Suresh Kumar (BJP) demanded to know under which provision of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the self-assessment system of taxation had been introduced as the law was being adopted only today.

The BMP did not conduct any public hearing before it introduced the zoning system. The imposition of the cesses would make Bangalore the highest taxed city in the country.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Jagadish Shettar, noted that the self-assessment system introduced in Hubli-Dharwad had been stayed by a court.

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