Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 12: As the proposal of the Union Territory administration to impose Property Tax in urban areas has snowballed into a big political issue, the government has sought feedback from the general public over the proposed tax.
A notice issued by the Housing & Urban Development has sought suggestions and comments from the general public over the imposition of Property Tax in Jammu & Kashmir.
“The UT of Jammu & Kashmir is imposing a levy of Property Tax on residential houses/apartments, commercial establishments, within the municipal areas from April 01, 2023, in terms of two notifications issued by the H&UDD on February 21”, the notice reads.
“Any suggestions/ comments in this regard are welcome and may be sent to the Housing & Urban Development Department at the email address [email protected] within 10 days,” reads the notice.
Notably, on Saturday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that doors are open for dialogue on this issue. Speaking on property tax, the Lt Governor said, “People's interest is our 'top priority'. The doors of administration are open for dialogue”.
Earlier he said that Property Tax would not be imposed on 40% of the people in urban and rural areas.
“The property tax in J&K is the lowest as compared to that of other states. There are around 5,20,000 houses in the cities of J&K. Out of these, 2,06,000 houses are less than 1,000 sq ft and no tax is being imposed on the same,” L-G Sinha said.
On February 21, the Jammu and Kashmir government has approved the imposition of property tax in all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the Union Territory. During the last couple of months, there were reports that the government was going to impose property tax in urban areas.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government issued an order imposing Property Tax on all properties – residential or non-residential at rates of 5% and 6% respectively annually of Taxable Annual Value (TAV) effective from Ist April 2023.
The notification issued as SO 87 exercising powers conferred by Section 71A of Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act 2000 (read with sub-section 1 of section 65 and sub-section 1 of Section 73), the government notified new rules called Jammu and Kashmir Property Tax (Other Municipalities) Rules 2023 which shall come in force from April 01, 2023. |
