The Kathmandu Metropolitan City is getting tough against the house and land owners who do not pay taxes and has directed the ward authorities to warn those to make the tax payments within two weeks.

The taxes include the money to be collected from houses and commercial complexes residing within the area of 10,000 sq feet in all the 35 wards of Kathmandu.

The KMC has blacklisted 1,535 houses, who defied house and land tax rules for years. “We are currently in the process of dispatching letters through the wards.

We have also directed all administrative chiefs at the ward offices to pace their work,” said KMC chief Laxman Aryal. “Out of the blacklisted houses, only 20 percent might have paid their taxes regularly.” If not paid by January 14, the KMC plans to add 10 percent fine to the pending dues.

If successfully collected, the KMC will raise anywhere between Rs 1 billion to Rs 1.5 billion, which will be a record breaking revenue collection for the metropolis. “We plan to collect all the taxes by mid-February” said Aryal. The taxes to be collected include the dues from the year 2004 to 2010.

Failing to pay the taxes, the KMC has decided to take stern action by cutting down basic facilities. “We will cut off all the basic amenities required by the households, including garbage collection and drinking water. We will also request the electricity and telephone authorities to disconnect their lines from these tax-defying houses,” said Aryal.

According to Aryal, a house owner requires to pay the around Rs 22,000 per year for a structure built on 10,000 sq feet. Among all the wards, 34 has the most number of houses ignoring to pay the taxes.

The other taxes to be raised by the metropolis during this campaign include rent and business taxes from the houses who rent it to others for business purposes. Mostly these houses include shopping centres, malls, department stores and big bungalows.

source:the kathmandu post,2 jan 2014