Political parties do not want to miss the chance to highlight the concerns of ordinary citizens as the local body election is likely to take place this year, even though the issue of the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) collecting property taxes is currently before the High Court. On March 2, 2023, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will convene a meeting to discuss how to resist the corporation's retrospective collecting.
Both the former opposition leader at PMC and former MLC Balaram Patil will be present at the meeting. Following the general body's approval of a proposal, pressure will be applied to the local and state governments to simplify taxation and collect property tax. People disagree with the PMC administration's plan to collect property taxes, claiming it is unfair. Even though the corporation had already been established, they claim they were already paying service fees to CIDCO. In November 2022, CIDCO ceased collecting service fees. The municipal organization is now requesting payment of retroactive property tax.
A request to levy property tax was approved in January 2019 after the PMC was established in 2016. The local government should only collect taxes once a proposal has been approved, not when the corporation was established, according to current people. In addition to the metropolitan regions, residents of at least 23 villages covered by the PMC have voiced their opposition to the civic body's collection of property taxes. Residents claimed that since they started paying property tax to the Gram Panchayat, the rate had jumped five times. Many villagers are currently unable to pay property taxes that are five years overdue.
The rate of taxes changed because villagers who previously paid property tax to the Gram Panchayat are now part of the civic council. Senior NAINA member and attorney Suresh Thakur stated that they will be meeting with the principal secretary to present their case.
The tax rates changed as residents moved from the Gram Panchayat, where they had paid property taxes, to the civic government. They are meeting with the principal secretary to present their case, according to advocate Suresh Thakur, a senior member of NAINA.
"After giving their agricultural property to CIDCO, the villagers obtained developed land. Currently, CIDCO is the land's owner, and the villages have a 60-year lease on it. The land's true owner is CIDCO. The city government should therefore collect taxes from CIDCO, according to Thakur.
