According to PMC commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal the standing committee of the PMC had already approved a revision in holding tax rates in its October 7 meeting. The national average for property tax is Rs 486 per person per year, while the same for Patna is Rs 126.

He said the PMC is also going to hike the total coverage area of holding tax in the city. There are still a large numbers of holdings, which are left out of the tax ambit. To conduct a fresh survey and undertake other necessary procedures, the civic body has requested the state government to give it more deputy collectors.

The PMC commissioner said the annual target for collection of holding tax for the last two years was Rs 33 crore but the PMC was able to collect Rs 17 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 28 crore in 2011-12.

The annual rental value for different categories of houses on three categories of streets––principal main road, main road and other roads––in the city has been raised two-fold from their existing value.

The existing annual rental value for a fully commercial house with reinforced concrete cement-made roof on a principal main road, that is, a road that has municipal water supply pipeline, has been raised from Rs 54 per sqft to Rs 108 per sqft.

The PMC would now send the report to the urban development department for final approval before the new holding tax rates come into effect.

However, some of the ward councillors claimed that the proposal to hike the holding tax rates was passed ignoring their demands.

Many of them complained that they wanted a detailed discussion on the holding tax hike proposal, as they could not understand several technical issues. However, the mayor ignored the request and the proposal was passed.