Soon, unique property IDs to tap tax potential

The civic authorities have launched a drive to generate unique IDs for properties with help of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping in various cities, including Faridabad. The unique ID system is expected to help increase the income from property tax by 50 per cent. Revealing this, sources in the civic department said a survey of property tax in all civic bodies was on and was likely to be completed soon. Under the programme, a unique ID code would be generated for every type of urban property and would be put online with details of the house tax, paid or unpaid at that point of time. Though it will be based on a house-to-house survey, the authorities will also take the help of mapping tools based on satellite imagery. The officials concerned said no property would be left out of the survey. The current realisation of house tax was between 40 and 50 per cent as a large number of property owners evaded it, mainly because the authorities did not have a proper database of tax payers. This leads to a major loss of revenue for the civic bodies which depend heavily on such income, they claimed. In Faridabad, only 2.5 lakh properties are currently registered with the Municipal Corporation, though the population is over 16 lakh. “No survey was done after 2008 and the number of properties which owe tax have doubled,” said Rattan Lal Rohilla, Zonal Taxation Officer, Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF). Tapping this potential fully could help the civic body improve its financial health, he said. “While GIS mapping will be done for the purpose, the motive of the move is keep a proper and transparent database of properties,” said Anand Mohan Sharan, Principal Secretary, Urban Local Bodies. He said the survey will cover 81 cities in the state and will help generate higher revenue for local bodies.