Resistance to revised house tax stiffening

Visakhapatnam: The implementation of revised property tax with effect from April 1, 2021 has evoked strong condemnation from the denizens from various parts of Andhra Pradesh.

The civic authorities are being flooded with the complaints against the notices served to clear the property tax dues to enable them to meet part of their revenue shortfall. The protests are becoming louder with several civic societies and residents' welfare associations strongly opposing the pressure being brought on them to clear the dues.

Visakhapatnam Apartments Residents' Welfare Association (VARWA) and Greater Visakha Resident Colony Associations' Federation (NIVAS) have decided to launch an opinion-gathering exercise against the move to collect the revised tax with effect from last financial year.

It has been said that the Sachivalaya volunteers are distributing special (revised) property tax demand notices to the property owners in the city during the past two months. The notices state that the revised tax is effective from April 1, 2021. "Any tax revision can be implemented only prospectively but not retrospectively. Implementation of tax revision from a back date is irrational and hence should be changed," VARWA general secretary BB Ganesh and VIKAS general secretary Pitta Narayana Murthy said.

The age of many buildings has been shown to be less than the actual age denying depreciation to increase the building value. In some cases, areas of buildings are shown higher than actual areas leading to higher taxes. All such cases should be reopened and rectified.

In a representation to the GVMC, they pointed out that almost every notice included some amount of unauthorised construction penalty which was hitherto not levied. Without any construction during the period under consideration, how can the unauthorised construction penalty be levied? It is meaningless and hence should be scrapped, Ganesh and Murthy pointed out. The special notices have not been served to some people but are sent by a WhatsApp message. Many who do not have data connectivity or WhatsApp facility could not open the messages. The notices should be served physically. The notices which were sent by WhatsApp messages should not be treated as having been served, they stated.

The notices say that the property assessees can lodge complaints within 15 days in case they are not satisfied with the evaluation. When the dissatisfied persons are approaching the Ward Sachivalayams for lodging the complaints, they are either refusing to receive the complaint or asking hundred and one documents such as approved plan, proceedings and Aadhaar card to register the complaint.