The innovative drive of the Pune Municipal Corporation seems to have paid off and filled up the coffers. Residents of the city responded most positively to the action of having their property taxes paid in time. In fact, the residents were very gamely making the payments within the first two months of the bill issuance in order to avail a 10% discount that they would get if they paid the amount before the date of May 31st. The corporation collected more than 400 crores with this innovative scheme, as people literally rushed to the offices. Over 50% of the residents availed the benefits and it has also been quite beneficial to the city administration because they will have more funds at their disposal.
The main reasons for the success of this particular scheme can be attributed to the well planned and expensive marketing of the same in the city. This helped bring the attention to the need to make payments before the cutoff date and with the added incentive the residents who were smart felt no hesitation in acceding to the new format. The bills were also sent to the property owners directly by the corporation which made it quite easy for them to plan their finances appropriately and avail the discount. The residents who made use of the opportunity were also quite happy with the drive as it helped them get the advantage that saved them 10% of the expenses.
There had been many innovative steps which had been taken too. The Pune Municipal Corporation had the advantage of using its own website which helped to get the customers to make the payment online and also through the smartphones. Direct payment from the account saved the customers a lot of funds and helped the authority get the funds, close to 50 crores of amounts, directly into their account. Many banks were also roped into the scheme which helped their customers to have an ease of payment of the tax. Not only the property tax but also the local taxes allowed to be paid by means of the accounts through the banks. Online payment methods helped to reduce the long queues in the offices as well as the banks which made it convenient for the working population to make the payments without the hassle of getting into any kinds of delays. It was a no-brainer that the convenient payments would attract those residents who seem to slack off from the payment time just because of the long wait they have to endure to make payments to the authorities.
Property tax and the Local body tax are the two main sources of income for the local governing bodies and it is important to get them to introduce the developmental works in the city. Property tax is levied on the immovable properties and they can be commercial, residential or any other kind of property owned privately or by any state or central governments with the limits of the corporation. This novel scheme has enabled the city administration to collect tax from over half of the eight lakh properties in the city within the first two months.