Undervalued tax bills cost Lucknow civic body Rs 20 crore in 4 years

LUCKNOW: Owners of over 1.5 lakh houses out of total 5.48 lakh in the city are paying undervalued house tax resulting in a loss of Rs 20 crore to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) in the last four years, according to a Geographical Index Survey (GIS) conducted by a private agency hired by the civic body.
LMC will now send notices to defaulters, who constitute 19% of total taxpayers, for recovery of dues.

LMC’s chief tax in charge Ashok Singh said, “House tax is based on self-assessment of floor area. Owners of these properties misinformed us about the actual floor area of their houses, which reduced the tax amount.”

Initially, LMC conducted the survey in Gomtinagar and Gomtinagar Extension and found that out of 40,000 households nearly 7,000 were paying less house tax. Later, hundreds of house owners in Mahanagar, Indiranagar and Vikasnagar were also found paying undervalued tax. As the survey has been completed, the database will now be maintained in newly-constructed command and control centre for assessment and tax collection.
Officials said notices are being served to defaulters asking them to pay the dues within two months, failing which construction on area not shown in assessment will be demolished. From now on, zonal officers will conduct verification of selfassessment of new houses and commercial units,” municipal commissioner Indramani Tripathi said.