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Pune, 17th September 2024: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will once again hold a lottery for property taxpayers who have paid their taxes on time. This initiative, first launched last year, offers attractive prizes to encourage timely payments and boost revenue collection. As a result of this scheme, PMC has seen a significant rise in property tax revenues.
The previous municipal commissioner, Vikram Kumar, allocated ₹1 crore in the 2024-25 budget for this lottery scheme. Madhav Jagtap, Deputy Commissioner of the Taxation and Tax Collection Department, stated that the process will be implemented after the assembly elections are concluded.
Last year, around 45 prizes, including a four-wheeler, e-bike, bicycle, laptop, and mobile phone, were awarded through the lottery. The scheme was specifically targeted at taxpayers who made full payments between 1st April and 31st May. This early bird incentive brought significant revenue to PMC.
This year, the PMC plans to extend the scheme until the end of December 2024. However, as mentioned by Jagtap, the implementation will be postponed until after the assembly elections.
For the financial year 2023-24, PMC’s Property Tax Department collected approximately ₹1,625 crores. The department’s target for 2024-25 is ₹2,400 crores. By this time last year, PMC had collected ₹1,385 crores, reflecting an increase of ₹150 crores in revenue, partly due to taxes from newly included villages and 78 newly taxed properties.
Despite the increase, the expected revenue has not been fully realized due to a higher number of defaulters. To meet its financial targets, PMC plans to use the lottery scheme to incentivize tax payments until the end of March 2025.
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