NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi‘s property tax collection in the financial year 2023-24 went down by 11.5% compared to the previous fiscal.
While the civic body had collected Rs 2,417 crore last year in FY 2022-23, the figure stood at Rs 2,137 crore in 2023-24, a decrease of Rs 280 crore. The number of taxpayers also reduced, from 13.29 lakh in 2022-23 to 12.58 lakh in 2023-24.
The collection figures – much lower than the target of Rs 3,500 crore in the 2023-24 budget – come as a disappointment for MCD as property tax is a major source of revenue. According to officials, the collection decreased as no amnesty scheme was introduced this year.
“Unlike FY 2023-24, in the last financial year (2022-23), we introduced the Samriddhi scheme, which included waiving all penalties on payment of the principal amount for the current year and previous five years for residential properties, and current year and previous six years for commercial properties. The scheme resulted in an additional collection of Rs 400 crore,” said an MCD official.
Explaining the fall in the number of taxpayers, the official said the amnesty scheme led to many people coming forward to pay their previous dues. “But this year, with no such scheme in place, they are avoiding payment and waiting for the right time,” said the official.
According to MCD, several efforts were made to increase collection, including issuing notices to major defaulters, bringing more people under the tax net, and assessing tax after verifying the nature of property using documents like electricity bills.
Leader of opposition and BJP councillor Raja Iqbal Singh said the collection figures “exposed” the claims of the mayor and AAP that the number of taxpayers had increased in the first quarter. “MCD was so confident… But, it didn’t happen, putting into question their efforts. The decline in collection is due to corruption and people have started losing hope in the party,” he said.
Meanwhile, MCD’s collection saw an increase in other sectors like remunerative and project cell (RP cell), public health and advertisements. The RP cell’s collection jumped from Rs 213.3 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 254 crore in 2023-24.
“This is due to an increase in parking collection from east Delhi areas. We worked intensively in the last fiscal to tap illegal parking, crack down on defaulters and issue norms to cancel the licensing fees of contractors not making payments for three consecutive months,” said the official.
The advertisement department’s tax collection increased from Rs 225.7 in 2022-23 to Rs 304.5 crore in 2023-24. “We made certain changes in ad clusters and re-invited tenders. We also took note of complaints of illegal advertisements,” said the official.
Public health’s collection, including licensing fee from restaurants, increased from Rs 34 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 50 crore in 2023-24.
Meanwhile, NDMC mopped up Rs 1,025.6 crore in 2023-24 compared to Rs 931 .2 crore in 2022-23 in property tax collection. It had set a target of Rs 1,150 crore. There are 16,500 taxpayers in NDMC area, of which 60% are non-residential. Taxpayers include 1,600 government or PSU assesses.
