Sewerage Tax added to property tax
Sewerage tax has been added to the property tax bills of entities in the
mall. Here are few sample cases, you can check the same online.
Increase in property taxes in about 45%.
Yesterday (18 Dec, 2020) 4 members visited
and met senior officers of BMC, S ward regarding the Sewerage Tax matter.
 Ptax minus sewerage = 17500, Sewerage = 7955, Increase = 45% |
 Ptax minus sewerage = 13498, Sewerage = 6135, Increase = 45% |
Sewerage Tax Applicability
By law, if a building has sewerage connection, but no BMC water connection then this tax becomes applicable. Therefore it has been applied for all years after 2014, till date. They are still in the process of updating records, so will reflect in all properties in due course.Best course of action
Increase in property tax is much higher than what we will spend on water even if we factor in clearing old dues. Hence take advantage of Abhay Yojana, clear water dues, get the connection immediately. Sewerage tax will be removed from future property tax bills. The amount we save in property tax, will be MORE than anything we pay for water.Can we fight it
The officers said, that it is beyond jurisdiction of S ward, and we have to approach much higher with some legal backing. One can try, but should not be very hopeful as this sort of things sets precedence.We also explained that we have paid to HDIL, and only about 200 members are paying water outstanding for entire mall again. So any change in the property tax should be made applicable only to the payers and not to all. We were asked to give it in writing so that they could consider the same sympathically.
What is the next step
1. Get on with the collection, clear water outstanding and get water reconnected before 31st March 2021. We should not miss the oppurtuinity of Abhay Yojana.2. Write to BMC Commissioner about the situation, and ask that Sewerage tax be removed only on those entities who have contributed towards the water outstanding.
3. Anyone with any legal ideas, concrete suggestions can come forward and we can try legally to remove this tax, for all it is worth, but this is only after doing 1 and 2.