BMC move to achieve holding tax target

BHUBANESWAR: The lack of awareness among the denizens about the holding tax is becoming a major hurdle for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to achieve its tax revenue target. Most  people are not aware of their tax responsibilities to the corporation.  “We have to first reach out to individuals and work on creating an awareness on holding tax. Only then can we go about collecting the tax, Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said.  MC has fallen short of ` 40 crore target it had set itself. They were hopeful of achieving the target by the end of the fiscal, but now it seems difficult. They  have lowered their target to ` 30 crore.  There are 80,000 tax payers under BMC jurisdiction. Special arrangements have been made to ensure that the minimum target is reached. A ward-wise division of tax payers has been made. The major thrust will be to rope in as many individuals as possible on awareness drive on the holding tax. Each tax collector has been given a specific target.  The target for tax collectors varies. It depends on the number of commercial and residential setups in a ward. The Tax Collectors will be provided with three vehicle squads which will also have a tax daroga. This has been done to specifically deal with the defaulters. They will be responsible for tax collection from the regular defaulters.  Last year, a few high profile tax evaders were served a notice. Even though a few of them have filed the tax returns, the process of retrieving tax from the rest is still on, said Jena. The deputy commissioner of BMC is the nodal officer who is monitoring  the holding tax collection. With all these measures in place, BMC officials are hopeful of achieving their tax targets.