The civic body is planning to follow Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and offer tax waiver to smaller properties.
According to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s plan, residences of around 500sqft will not have to pay the property tax. Smaller shops of 150sqft will be exempted too. Once the proposal is cleared, nearly two lakh properties under the PMC would be out of the tax net.
Earlier this month, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a waiver of property tax for residences less than 500sqft in Mumbai. Officials said around 16 lakh families will benefit from the waiver under the BMC.
“The BMC’s decision should be replicated in PMC. It is the need of the hour. Smaller flats are mostly owned by citizens with limited financial capacity. Many of them have lost revenue sources during Covid. Tax waiver will help them,” said PMC corporators Ashwini Kadam and Laxmi Dudhane, who tabled the proposal regarding the demand before the standing committee.
Congress leader Mohan Joshi also made a similar demand. “The revenue of the PMC has gone up because of good income from property tax and building permissions. The civic body can afford to give this waiver. It should be given at the earliest,” he said.
A group of housing societies, too, has urged for the waiver. “Financial losses of business places especially smaller shops are huge. Tax should be waived with retrospective effect,” said Vijay Shinde of Pune City Society and Apartment Association.