Holding tax in city not adjusted in 25 yrs

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UNB, Dhaka :Despite significant increases in the value of property and land over the last 25 years, the city authorities havefailed to adjust holding tax during the period, leading to huge loses of revenue every year.Sources at Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) said the two city corporations have been collecting holding tax at a rate fixed in 1989-90 fiscal year.According to the City Corporations (Taxation) Rules, 1986, new valuation of property and taxation should be done once after every five years but the authorities have not adjusted it for the last 25 years as the elected representatives were “afraid of losing votes”. Contacted, DNCC Mayor Anisul Haque said, “The taxes won’t be increased now, though we’re thinking of adjusting the holding tax in the near future. There’s a double standard in paying holding tax in some areas which will be adjusted,” he said.DNCC sources said decisions for adjusting tax collection, removing inequality in tax payment and five-yearly tax general assessments were taken by the mayor in a recent meeting.DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon said it is not possible to increase the taxes abruptly. “We need time and we’re thinking about it. The financial conditions of different sections of city dwellers are not the same. In this case, if we increase tax, it will be a great problem to pay the tax for the lower-income people,” he added.DNCC deputy chief revenue officer Mohsin Ali told UNB that in the 2014-2015 fiscal, DNCC targeted to collect Tk 390 corer as revenue, though it managed to collect Tk 238 corer while Tk 151,00,54 remained in arrears.DSCC deputy chief revenue officer Md Saidur Rahman Khan said in the fiscal 2014-2015, DSCC targeted to collect Tk 275 corers as revenue, in which Tk 238 corers was collected.According to the City Corporations (Taxation) Rules, 1986, city dwellers pay 7 percent of the value of their buildings as holding tax, while 3 percent for lighting and 2 percent for cleanness.According to the rules, 40 percent of the annual value will be deducted of the tax mentioned if the owner of the property resides there.Sources said, officially there are a total of 1, 48, 600 listed holding numbers in DNCC, while 1, 22,780 in DSCC, but the unofficial umbers are said to be would be much higher.Over the last 25 years, many holdings have been developed into multi-storey buildings from tiny sheds, and residential areas turned into commercial ones, which remain unlisted. Besides, thousands of new buildings have been built during the period and those also still remain unlisted for taxes, according to the officials.As welfare organisations, the city corporations have to spend on road construction, infrastructures, mosquito control and street lighting, which comes from the taxes. These welfare works have been hindered as the past representatives of these two city corporations failed to adjust the tax rate, according to the officials.

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