SHILLONG: Following protests from various Dorbars in the city regarding the increase in property tax continuing, the additional Chief Secretary in-charge Urban and Municipal Affairs P Naik said on Tuesday that the proposed hike has been pending for long.
“After the last revision in 2007, the department was to increase the property tax in 2012 for the mandatory revision every five years,” Naik said.
According to Naik, the matter was delayed since there were some requirements to be fulfilled by the department as per the demand of Asian Development Bank especially for scientific study of the city including mapping.
“After the completion of the study, now we are compelled to revise the taxes since cost of providing various services have gone up ,” Naik said, adding that this will also help to generate additional income for the Municipal body as the employees had not been getting salary for many months whereas the Municipality was expected to be self sustaining . Naik said that the proposed property tax, however, will be implemented only after getting the views from the public.
