Land transactions in Kerala will become costlier as land tax and fair value of land have been increased in the state budget for 2022-23 fiscal. Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that additional revenue of about Rs 200 crore is expected to be generated from this.
The budget proposed a new slab for land tax and a one-time increase of land fair price by 10%. The finance minister presented the budget on Friday, March 11.
It is proposed that the basic land tax would be revised by the introduction of a new slab above 40.47 ares in grama panchayats, municipalities and corporations and that the basic land tax rates would be increased in a calibrated manner in all slabs. “It's expected that this will result in additional revenue of about Rs 80 crore. The government is simultaneously bringing in projects to introduce state-of-the-art technological changes in the land record management which includes a statewide digital land survey project with Rs 339 crore in the first phase,” the minister said.
He also noted that the fair value of land is not in tune with the current market value in many areas in the state. In the last fiscal, tax revenue from land for Kerala was reportedly Rs 400 crore. Experts suggested that the government should look to increase the fair value and tax for revenue generation.
“Government has undertaken massive infrastructure projects like national highway expansion, metro rail project, core road network extension, etc. as a result of which the market values of land have increased manifold in the neighbouring areas,” Balagopal said, adding that to address the anomalies in the fair value, the government will constitute a high-level committee to ensure that fair values reflect the actual ground realities.
“A one-time increase of 10% will be implemented in fair values across all segments. It's expected that this will result in Rs 2,00 crore additional revenue generation,” he said.