In its continued effort to recover delinquent property tax es, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has blacklisted over thousand institutions, including big schools and colleges.

The metropolis has also started dispatching letters to these institutions asking them to submit their house and land tax details within next 15 days.

Among the recently blacklisted entities include 103 schools, 92 high schools, 164 hotels, 251 charter accountancy firms, 135 cooperatives and 243 educational consultancies. KMC has also blacklisted 634 other businesses that have failed to pay their tax es for decades.

According to Dhurba Kafle, official at the KMC’s Revenue Department, they have started the correspondence with the defaulters, asking them to promptly declare their tax able properties.

“We are currently making calls, sending out emails and directing them via their respective wards” said Kafle.

After KMC’s recent crackdown on property tax defaulters, the major hotels in the Capital, including all the five-start hotels, pledged to clear their back tax es after declaring the tax able components of their property. The metropolis had cut off the waste collection service for these hotels which resumed only a few weeks ago. “After star hotels, now we have put non-star hotels under our scrutiny. Most of them are based in Thamel area,” said Kafle.

The Section 165(2) of Local Self Governance Act 1999 authorises KMC to stop basic services to recover tax es from the defaulters. The Act also enables the KMC to collect tax es relating to house and land, business, rent, advertisement, and entertainment. It also has the authority to freeze and auction off the properties of the defaulters.

In its first stern action against tax defaulting business entities, the KMC had last month sealed the office of a Thapathali-based trade tower which had accumulated Rs 10 million in unpaid tax es. The housing company later paid off Rs 3.5 million, and committed to clear the remaining amount by the end of this fiscal year. The KMC has offered a provision allowing tax payerst o pay in installments for amount exceeding Rs 1 million.

source: the kathmandu post,20 june 2014