Property tax in J&K: Commissioner JMC sensitizes market associations, traders

Jammu: Commissioner Jammu Municipal Corporation Rahul Yadav held a series of interaction over the week with different market associations and traders to sensitize them about property tax.
These meetings were attended by Deepak Gupta president Ware House Traders Association, Sanjay Gupta President Raghunath Bazar Traders Association, Anil Kohli Apsara Road traders’ association, President Jain School Road Vinod Jain, President Kanak Mandi Anup Mittal, Harbinder Singh, President Vir Marg Traders Association, Pooja Kapoor, President, Residency Road Traders Association Baldev Raj, Secretary All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association, Dinesh Gupta, President, Association of Electric Dealers & Gen Sec. Chamber of Traders Federation, Industrialist Annil Suri and Raman Gupta, Sr. Vice President, Chamber of Traders Federationa among others.

Addressing the meetings, Commissioner JMC apprised traders and market associations that property tax announced by government of UT Jammu and Kashmir is intended for strengthening municipal finances and will benefit common people in term of better service delivery.
He apprised them that property tax is one of the essential pillars of municipal financing across the world.
“Property tax is being levied across the world by Municipalities to augment their resources. With poor finances, the ULBs across the Jammu and Kashmir were not able to deliver to their fullest,” Yadav maintained.

He further said that the Tax rates one of the lowest in the country and Residential houses upto a buildup area of 1000 sqft have been exempted.
“All places of worship, including temples, masjids, gurudwaras, churches, ziarats, etc are exempt from payment of property tax." Different provision of act and rules were clarified in detail.

Concern and doubts of representatives of different associations were also addressed in the meeting, and their suggestions were also taken. It was pointed out in the meeting that more such awareness programs should be organized as there is misinformation among the traders community. "Trader community has always supported government efforts for fair Tax collections" said one of the members present. Sample tax calculations were also done on online Tax calculator propertytax.jmcjammu.org for understanding Tax liabilities.

Others who were also present in the meetings representatives of Moti Bazaar Traders Association, Raj Tilak Road Traders Association, Purani Mandi Traders Association, Jain Bazar Traders Association, Super Bazaar Traders, Purani Mandi Association, Veg. & Fruit Mandi Traders and Pahari Mohalla Traders Association, among others.