What is the reply to the question raised by some people as to the propriety behind imposing property tax on vacant land?
Imposition of tax on land and building comes in the purview of the State government. It is to be noted that Government has taken steps to levy tax on urban land as municipalities do not levy the property tax on vacant land effectively. In order to levy tax on urban vacant land the Government enacted the Karnataka Urban Land Tax Act. Provision was made in this Act to collect the tax of 1% (Rs. 1000 per lakh rupees) of the actual market value of urban vacant land. The urban land tax officer could levy the tax after conducting the spot examination. After the 74th Amendment to the Constitution, with a view to give more taxation power to Municipalities, the Karnataka Urban Land Tax Act was repealed in 2000 and some major reforms were made in property taxation and municipalities were delegated with the power of levying tax on vacant land. It is not fair to oppose the reform of empowering the Municipalities to revoke the system of levying of tax at the rate of 1% on the actual market value by
