The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come down heavily on the Karnataka government over the property tax hike in Bengaluru. Opposition leader R Ashoka said that Congress “does not have any right to ask for a single paisa of tax” until the water crisis in the city was resolved.
“People are already facing the consequence of spending thousands on water tankers and the move to hike property tax is like rubbing salt on their wounds. Shivakumar, what moral rights do you have to increase the property tax, when you are not able to ensure crucial basic amenities such as water,” he added.
“You do not have any right to ask for a single paisa of tax from the people of Bengaluru until the water crisis is resolved,” Ashoka said.
BJP Karnataka State President BY Vijayendra said the hike in property tax from 5.3% to 8.2% would fleece people. “They (Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar) flash guarantees always but extort money by increasing taxes one after the other. The time has come where the people will teach the Congress a befitting lesson,” he stated.
On March 10, Shivakumar said that there are 18 lakh property owners in Bengaluru who do not come under the property tax bracket and it was important to bring them into the tax bracket.
"There was a lot of confusion about property tax zones as the properties were divided into 18 zones when the Unit Area Value property tax was introduced in 2008. In order to remove this confusion, we have decided to simplify the system. The zones have been classified into six zones now based on asset classes – residential (own and rented), commercial, industrial, star hotel, empty lands with rebate and empty lands without rebate," he said.
Addressing a press conference at Vidhana Soudha, he said that the property taxes were revised upwards in 2016 by about 20% for residential buildings and 25% for commercial properties. He pointed out that property tax rates had not been increased in the last eight years and that the decision to fix the property tax increase to 10% was taken after a deliberate discussion.