Overview
To improve the quality of services delivered to citizens, inefficiencies in the property tax system is a critical issue to address. This is because lack of funds adversely affects service delivery capacity and property taxation is one of the largest sources of income generated by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
Our program aims to improve estimation, periodical review and collection of property tax using established best practices. Also, it seeks to increase the revenue generated by ULBs, facilitate digitisation of the property tax collection process, promote data based decision making, and recognise the effort revenue officers put in.
To achieve this aim, we utilise our benchmarking resource - the Property Tax Toolkit - and an innovative initiative, the Municipal Premier League (MPL).
Property Tax Toolkit
This resource is the result of a study commissioned by MoHUA, India, and analyses various available models for effective estimation, periodical review and collection of property tax - with a focus on scalable best practices.
Municipal Premier League (MPL)
Conceptualized to provide impetus for increasing property tax collections of ULBs, participants are the people responsible for collection who compete with one another to collect maximum tax. The best performers are rewarded on pre-set parameters.
Approach
We aim to reform the property tax system in Indian cities based on a two pronged approach. This involves replicating best practices that are scalable, outlined in our landscape study of property taxation in Indian States and Cities along with focusing on efforts to increase property tax collections in ULBs.
We aim to reform the property tax system in Indian cities based on a two pronged approach. This involves replicating best practices that are scalable, outlined in our landscape study of property taxation in Indian States and Cities along with focusing on efforts to increase property tax collections in ULBs.
The Property Tax Toolkit provides actionable recommendations based on best practices that are already working on the ground, and a step-wise implementation plan for adoption of the same. The Toolkit organizes the reform agendas into 5 sections to cover the 5 stages of the lifecycle of property tax. Reform recommendations in each stage of the lifecycle have been framed as responses to issues and implementation challenges, sharply addressing what needs to be done and how it needs to be done.
As a first step to enable these reforms, MoHUA published the Property Tax Toolkit in September 2020 and it is available in print format (click here). The digital version of the Toolkit will be launched shortly on cityfinance portal.
Launched in two regions, Odisha and Coimbatore city, this program has been immensely successful. In Odisha, in its first edition Municipal Premier League engaged 214 tax functionaries and resulted in an 56% increase in average monthly collections and
improved the collections by 37% over FY18-19. It is now in it’s third edition in Odisha.
In Coimbatore, 52 bill collectors and 5 AROs across 4 revenue streams are participating in the MPL for the FY21-22.
Gallery
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