A Cabinet sub-committee of the Karnataka government has decided to recommend to the government to scrap the Capital Value System (CVS) and continue with the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS) to levy property tax in the city.
The committee set up to guide the government on the model to be adopted for levying property tax in the city has met three times and is of the unanimous view that SAS should continue, Karnataka minister for transport R Ashok told reporters here.
The move by the Congress-JD(S) government to replace SAS by CVS evoked sharp protest from the public and also BJP which was in the opposition ranks then. Ashok said the government has suggested that the government raise the existing taxes by 20 per cent this year.
He said it has been estimated that about 1.5 million properties should come under the property tax net. Only 700,000 properties were covered now, he added. On the issue of conducting elections to the Greater Bangalore City Corporation, he said his party, the BJP, was ready to face the polls.
The sub-committee took into account representations made by resident welfare assocations against the implementation of CVS.
The sub-committee also recommended to the corporation to go ahead with the annual rental value-based SAS. However, the committee has asked for an increase on the rental rate between 20 per cent and 25 per cent.
Spread across the six zones, the corporation is getting a tax base smaller than what used to be collected under SAS.
The SAS method of property tax assessment came into force in 2004 in Bangalore, The scheme is planned such that it will not exceed 2.5 times the amount paid by property owners before 2001-2002. This scheme would be applicable to all corporations and municipalities, including Bangalore.
Meanwhile, the CVS scheme was to come into effect on April 1 this year but citizens’ groups came out very strongly against the move.
Their concern was that it would lead to a substantial increase in property tax across the board. Governor Rameshwar Thakur then stayed its implementation in the absence of a popular government.
