Pune: Caught in a perpetual struggle with defaulters on property tax, counted as a vital source of revenue, the civic body has this year announced its decision to focus more on the recovery of this levy and bring maximum properties under its limits into the tax net — even looking at exploring modern tech like AI to aid these efforts. According to the latest civic budget, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) aims to recover around Rs7,000 crore from property tax defaulters this year.“Options such as using artificial intelligence (AI) for assessment of the property tax status are being explored. PMC is partnering with external govt agencies to get AI technology for tax assessment,” said municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, while speaking to reporters after the budget presentation on Monday. As per data with PMC, around 3.5 lakh properties under its jurisdiction are out of the tax ambit at the moment.Civic data also reveals that the corporation generated Rs2,147 crore from this levy till Jan-end this year. This amount also includes amnesty scheme revenue. The civic administration had kept a target of Rs3,352.40 crore till the end of the fiscal, which it appears to be falling short of.PMC officials also said that they will carry out drives to bring more properties under the tax ambit. Their focus will be on merged areas, as well as properties that have been redeveloped. The civic body has further proposed a hike of 5% in property tax across civic areas for the next financial year. This was to be implemented for commercial as well as residential properties, but it was scrapped after newly elected representatives opposed the move.Commenting on the budget, PMC additional commissioner Prithviraj BP said, “The civic body will focus on the recovery of property tax in merged areas. The civic administration will take the call about other discounts after the standing committee’s decision on the same.” A demand to waive the tax for properties up to 500 sqft is being made after several political parties promised it in their election manifestos during the recent civic elections. If this is implemented, PMC will face losses of around Rs200 crore, officials surmised.
