Pay more to park at shopping malls

Pay more to park at shopping malls
BENGALURU







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I BBMP proposes tax on parking fee I
Visitors and shop pers to shopping malls and commercial establishments in the city may soon have to pay more parking fee.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to levy tax on the parking fee collected at these commercial complexes. According to the SAS rules framed by the BBMP, the malls are expected to pay tax on parking fees collected from the public.

“The charge for parking is the fee collected for a surface parking slot by the owner or occupier of a non residential building either by themselves or through an agent. Rs 300 will be collected per car parking area per annum while Rs 100 will be collected per two wheeler parking area per annum. The tax has to be paid along with property tax,” said BBMP deputy commissioner (revenue) Mr R. Chandrashekar.

Following this, some malls in the city have started collecting extra charges from the public to make good the hike in tax.

Mall authorities in the city gave a mixed response to the levy of tax on parking fee collected from the public. Managing director. Garuda Mall, Uday Garudachar said: “If BBMP collects tax on parking fee, we will be forced to collect extra parking fee. Maintaining parking lots is very expensive. The new tax is sure to have a cascading effect. If BBMP levys the tax, we have no option but to increase the parking fee. The government has several other avenues to augment its revenue. With the economy in recession, why should BBMP burden the public?” Corporate head, Crisis handling, Forum Mall, Mr Rajiv Kembhavi however felt the proposed Act if passed, would not be a major factor in determining parking fee. “We feel Forum's parking facility is more of a service to the public, The new tax will not affect parking fee, in the near future. It will only have an effect in the long run, where due to the levy of tax on parking fee we may have to increases the parking fee. In short, parking fee will not be affected overnight.”