Informal workers likely to get a pie of BBMP’s property tax

A small portion of property tax, collected from homeowners and various establishments in Bengaluru, will likely be set aside for the welfare of unorganised workers.

The state government is considering such a move by modifying the various types of cess the BBMP levies as part of property tax.

As per initial discussions, the additional cess may be levied at the cost of libraries and beggars. An internal note of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has suggested a new cess of 5% for the welfare of unorganised workers by reducing the library cess from 3% to 2%, and the beggary cess from 6% to 2%.

The CMO suggested no changes in the health and land transport cess, which are currently 15% and 2%, respectively. This shows the government is not keen to increase the total share of cess levied in property tax as it could disrupt regular maintenance and development works.

At present, four types of cess take away 26% of the around Rs 3,000 crore property tax the BBMP collects annually.

Attaching the CMO’s note, the Urban Development Department (UDD) has written to Labour and Finance departments, seeking their feedback on the modification of cess. It also wants to know whether the changes will have any bearing on programmes related to beggars and libraries. The views shared by these departments will be part of the Cabinet note.

Speaking to DH, Commissioner of Labour Akram Pasha said there are 75 lakh workers in 371 unorganised sectors. “To start with, we have proposed a new cess only in the BBMP jurisdiction. We expect around Rs 250 crore which could be used for providing educational scholarships for children, health coverage for workers and school kits, etc,” he said. “Any changes to the property tax cess require amendments to the Act. The UDD is formulating guidelines to take the proposal forward.”

T M Vijay Bhaskar, former chief secretary, said there was a relatively small allocation for unorganised workers’ benefits in contrast to the considerable funds available for construction workers’ welfare. As the head of the state administrative reforms committee, he had suggested raising the cess to supplement government budgetary allocations for the welfare of different categories of unorganised workers.

Maitreyi Krishnan, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), said workers employed in unorganised sectors had been completely neglected and government policies have pushed more people into the unorganised sector. “Welfare programmes for these workers should be taken up through budgetary allocation and should not be solely dependent on cess,” she said.

A senior official in the UDD said that the department was working on such a proposal and added that it would be passed ahead of the Assembly polls as there is very little time.

New cess to benefit unorganised sector

*BBMP collects Rs 3,000 cr in property tax every year

*It levies 4 types of cess as part of property tax: Health cess, land transport cess, beggary cess and library cess

*Govt is planning a new cess (5%) for the welfare of unorganised sector by reducing library cess from 3% to 2%, and beggary cess from 6% to 2%

Beggary and library cess

The Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975, empowers BBMP to collect 3% of property tax for rehabilitation of beggars in city

As per the Public Libraries Act, 1965, libraries are entitled to 6% of property tax