Despite property tax being a major source of internal revenue to the urban local bodies (ULB's) in India, it is not being properly managed and exploited optimally. Mobilisation of this resource has remained far from its actual potential. The I 3'" Finance Commission estimated that the cities can mobilize anywhere between Rs. 22,000 to Rs.32,000 crore annually from the present Rs. 6,274 crore to Rs. 9,424 crore with improved coverage and collection efficiency. To facilitate this, it recommended constitution of a state property tax board, on the lines of West Bengal Valuation Board, which has been functioning for over a quarter century. This is one of the nine mandatory recommendations whose compliance is a precondition to access the performance grant of about Rs.8,000 crore it recommended to ULB's. The authors in this article examine the legal framework, Board's composition, functions, staffing, property valuation process, etc. The authors critically examine the Board's organisation and working and draw a few lessons which can be taken into consideration by the state governments which have either constituted or are in the process of constituting similar institution in their states.*The authors acknowledge with thanks the support received from the chairperson. members and officials of the West Bengal Valuation Board. and Commissioner, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and chairpersons and officials of Kamarhati and Rajpur-Sonarpur municipalities in the collection of data and sparing time for discussions during June, 2010. We are particularly thankful to Shramik Roy of the Board for his valuable inputs. The views expressed, however, are that of the authors only. THE WEST BENGAL VALUATION BOARD I 155 D.RAVINDRA PRASAD. et alPROPERTY TAX is a major source of internal revenue to the ULB's in India as also in several countries -developed and developing. 1 Exploiting its potential, therefore, is extremely critical for the local bodies for efficient provision and management of civic services. Because of its importance, countries evolved strategies and made institutional arrangements to exploit its full potential. In India, despite its importance, this source is not being properly managed and exploited optimally.Recognising its potential, several state governments initiated policy and legislative measures to reform property tax administration. 2 There are also several city level reform initiatives. Despite these efforts the capacity of property tax to generate revenue has remained far from its actual potential considered in terms of the value of properties in cities. 3 The 13th Finance Commission (13'h FC) recognised the potential of property tax in augmenting the resources to the ULBs in the country 4 and examined the status of valuation and collection methods.The 13 1 h FC felt that the per capita revenue from property tax in India in 2006 was Rs.486 with Mumbai registering highest yield at Rs.1,334 and Patna collecting lowest with Rs. 25. Based on a study it commissioned, the 13'h FC came to the conclusion that the ULBs a...
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