SAS for new areas too

SAS for new areas too
Bangaloreans Will Get To Save Property Tax And Elect Representatives Soon
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Residents of newly added areas — CMCs, TMC and 110 villages — who were paying property taxes under the Capital Value System (CVS) since 2000, will now shift over to the annual rental value based-Self Assessment Scheme (SAS).
With the state government deciding on sticking to the existing SAS for Bangalore, a uniform policy applies to the entire city including the 500-odd sq km of the newly added pockets.
The state cabinet sub-committee which was formed a few months ago to look into the implementation of the taxation scheme and study the public representations on CVS, on Saturday asked the BBMP to rework on the SAS with a rental value increase of 20-25%.
However, the issue was also whether the city will have two tax modules as the erstwhile urban local bodies followed CVS while the BMP areas had SAS.
“A city cannot have two taxation policies. It will be SAS for Bangalore. However, even with increased rental value rates, the BBMP will suffer revenue losses and people will stand to gain, as the increased depreciation on the properties will bring down the taxes. The new areas cannot generate much taxes as they will come under the F zone where the values are less,’’ BBMP commissioner S Subramanya told The Times of India.
As per the SAS, the city is divided into six zones — a, b, c, d, e and f — as per the areas and their location. The newly added zones will come under F zone which does not yield huge revenues. Once the scheme is modified, the BBMP will print new set of books, identifying the areas in the zones and launch a campaign to create awareness.
In a few days time, the authorities will modify the scheme and send it to the sub-committee for its approval, after which the KMC Act will be amended. The BBMP is likely to start its property tax collections from October, if everything goes as per the schedule.
BBMP to refund Sakrama fee
Cabinet sub-committee which is looking into Sakrama, building regularization scheme, has decided to refund applicants their money. Since Sakrama is under government scrutiny, BBMP had written to government about refunding money of applicants. Nearly Rs 27 crore has been collected as Sakrama fee. Cabinet has asked BBMP to refund money to those who apply for the same.