Federation urges state to reduce rates

Amidst the Maharashtra government’s move to issue bills to recover non agriculture (NA) tax pending from 2006 for the private and government lands in Mumbai suburbs, the Federation of Grantees of Government Land will appeal to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to reduce the revised rates citing they are higher than which were paid earlier. The Federation has argued that the government is charging 0.01% as lease rent to charitable organisations when they grant lands for sports and education. It will call upon the state government to apply the same percentage of 0.01% for residential lands since they were used for residential purposes only. The government had stayed the NA assessment from 2006 and has now lifted the stay in a bid to mop up additional resources to meet the rising revenue shortfall caused following the coronavirus induced lockdown and economic downturn. “NA assessment will be 0.05% of the Ready Reckoner (RR) rates. As per the government notification, the rates will be revised every five years from the year 2006. So, the RR rate of 2006 will be applicable from 2006 to 2011. The NA tax for 2011 to 2016 will be based on the RR rate of 2-11. The NA tax for the year 2016 to 2021 will be based on the RR rate of 2016,’’ said the federation sources. The federation has argued that the notice for payment served by the suburban district collector is an interim payment since the RR rate of 2006 is taken for calculation for the complete 15 years.