In a disappointing turn of events for residents of Belagavi, the 5% rebate for property tax ended on April 30th amidst widespread complaints regarding the city corporation’s failure to facilitate online payments smoothly. Despite assurances from staff that all systems were functioning properly, many apartment owners reported difficulties in paying their taxes online, with numerous individuals receiving blank challans.
The situation worsened as those unable to pay online were forced to endure long queues for offline challans, only to find out that the 5% rebate had already expired. Compounding the frustration, property taxes had already been hiked due to the use of guidance value for land assessment.
According to reports, the city corporation managed to collect around 15 crores in property tax, significantly less than the previous year’s collection. This decline is attributed to the tumultuous online payment process, which saw the website experiencing issues from its launch on April 15th, including a two-day outage. By the end of April, apartment tax challans remained elusive, leaving many taxpayers in limbo.
Critics have lambasted the Belagavi City Corporation for its handling of the property tax system, highlighting the undue burden placed on honest taxpayers. The debacle has raised questions about the city’s commitment to leveraging digital solutions to streamline governance and public services.
“This issue of property tax was not encountered in any other corporation; only the Belagavi City Corporation seems to grapple with online payment failures,” remarked a disgruntled resident. “In this era of digital India, it’s disheartening that we still struggle to implement systems that honor and encourage honest taxpayers.”
As the outcry grows louder, residents are urging the city corporation to address the shortcomings promptly and ensure a smoother process for property tax payments in the future.
My property’s tax challan is not generated and shows 0 amount payable. No one seems to have any clue as to what is happening. The Corporation should extend the 5% rebate till the glitch is resolved. They cannot hold citizens responsible and deny honest taxpayers of rebate for no fault of theirs.
City corporation needs to get its act together and fix this issue, and also extend the 5% rebate period.
Issue still noticed with all details shown as blank and challan shows zero value.
This issue remains the same even after 1 month.
Authorities need to extend 5 % rebate for online payment.