MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council has been literally caught on the wrong foot as an audit party has stumbled upon the fact that the A Class civic body has not revised the house tax rates for well over 20 years.
The ongoing audit conducted by the Accountant General of India has found to its shock and surprise that the Margao civic body has last revised the house tax rate in the mid-90’s, around 1995 to be precise,
indicating that the house tax rates have not been revised by the civic body for 23 years now.
The audit query, sources said was directed at the Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes, who is believed to have replied saying that the matter will be placed before the elected Council for an appropriate decision. Municipal officials in the know, however, told The Goan that this is not the first time that the audit party has raised the contentious issue of the civic body’s failure to revise the house tax rates over the years, more so when the PWD has come out with the revised plinth area rates, the base rate for the calculation of house tax.
If Municipal officials are to be believed, Margao citizens will have to pay higher doses of house tax, may be around three-four times the existing rates, given that the house tax has not been revised for over two decades now. “If one calculates the house tax based on the criteria insisted by the PWD or the audit, Margao citizens will be mandated to pay at least three times more tax than the existing rates,” an official told The Goan.
When The Goan contacted Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes to shed light on the query raised by the audit party, he conceded that records were evident that the civic body has not done the reassessment of the house tax since 1995.
“I have replied back to the audit saying the matter will be placed before the Council for an appropriate decision. Let the elected Council discuss and deliberate on the audit
query and take a decision,” Johnson said.
Ruling councillors, however, are wary of going by the audit report or the latest PWD based rates, saying the reassessment of house tax may put the citizens in deep trouble, favouring only a marginal hike in the house tax rates.
“Why should citizens face the brunt for no fault of theirs when the Council has failed in revising the house tax from time to time. We have now levied the sanitation tax on the citizens and a sudden increase in the house tax rates will put the households in a big problem,” remarked a ruling councillor, who has favoured a gradual increase in the house tax rates.
