Mapusa Council to reassess house tax for block of 4 yrs

MAPUSA rrThe work, which is expected to begin “very soon”, will be carried out by the staff of the council. The civic staff will move door to door to collect information from each and every household for any additions or expansions. rThere are more than 20,000 houses, including flats and shops, which are being taxed in the jurisdiction of MMC. r“We have two key jobs to be taken up on priority – reassessment of house tax and delimitation of wards. The reassessment task will be taken up very soon, may be within next 15 days,” said MMC Chairman Rohan Kavlekar. rHe said although Mapusa was divided in 20 wards during the civic elections, the council was still functioning as per the old 13 wards system. r“We will form two separate teams to undertake the jobs. For reassessment of house tax, a team comprising the civic staff will undertake the task while a team of daily wage workers will be hired to carry out the delimitation process,” he said. rHe further said that in the delimitation process, new house numbers as per the new wards will be allotted to every household. rThe council was yet to decide on the rate of house tax and was awaiting instructions from the office of the Director of Municipal Administration on the issue. r“The State government has proposed to enforce uniform house tax for all municipalities in the State. We will have to wait and see,” said Kavlekar, on whether the council will hike the house tax rate. rHouses in Mapusa are assessed for tax based on their plinth area, an official in the know informed The Goan. rPresently, residential houses with Manglorean Tiles are assessed at Rs 1.75 per sq mt while houses with RCC are assessed at Rs 4.40 per sq mt. rSimilarly, commercial structures with Manglorean Tiles are assessed at Rs 8.85 per sq mt while structures with RCC are assessed at Rs 17.70 per sq mt. All illegal houses on communidade or private land are assessed at the rate of Rs 6.05 per sq mt.