Now Kolkata people can calculate property tax themselves

Citizens of Kolkata will now be able to calculate their property tax themselves, with the passage of Unit Area Assessment System in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation today.
There was scope for subjectivity and ambiguity in the present system which leads to arbitrariness causing real or perceived unfairness in the eyes of the taxpayer, Mayor Sobhan Chatterjee said.
To get rid of this and other inherent problems in the existing system, the Unit Area Assessment System was passed and it would be applicable from April 1, Chatterjee said.
The entire city is divided into seven categories - A to G - on the basis of market value, facilities etc and tax would be different in the localities falling under those categories, he said.

In the Unit Area Assessment System, an assessee would pay only for the area he or she lives and not for adjacent areas like garden, he said.
Citizens can measure their property and apply a set formula to assess their tax, the Mayor said.
However, he said, assessees would have to pay the next bill for property tax in the old system and it would be adjusted in later bills.
The Mayor said that unassessed properties would be brought under tax net to increase revenue.