Property Tax is the principal source of revenue in cities in virtually every part of the world. In most cities in India the property tax base has been considerably eroded by administrative and procedural inadequacies. In many cities a significant number of properties are not included in the tax base; those that are included are inaccurately assessed and collection efficiency is very poor*. This poor collection of revenue directly affects the quality of services and infrastructure provided by the municipality/corporation. Based on thorough analysis of cities in Karnataka, the Urban Development Dept. Govt of Karnataka in partnership with the eGovernments Foundation has developed the eGov Property Tax system that addresses many of the inadequacies in the current system.

The eGov Property Tax application computerizes the revenue department of a City Corporation or Municipality and provides an entire IT system that manages properties and their taxation. It calculates the property tax demand automatically based on the “CVS-Capital Value Systems”. It will tightly integrated with Financials accounting system so that up to date reporting of tax collections can be automatically computed in real time. The tax collection application also generates the Bank Deposit Chalans and the Khirdi reports. It handles property registrations, transfers, bifurcations and amalgamations.

The Revenue Dept. of the Udupi City Municipalityl will be computerized under the Nirmala Nagara project.
A property tax computer system will be implemented which will make the payment of property taxes very easy for the citizens of Udupi.

Currently a lot of work is underway in Udupi :
                Creating GIS maps of the city
                Street & Property numbering
                Assigning unique IDs to each property
                Collecting accurate data on each property

All of these will for the basis of an accurate MIS and GIS database that will power the property tax system. Citizens should be able to pay property tax and get a computer receipt in a matter of minutes. The Self Assessment Scheme forms can be downloaded online or collected at the corporation.

Citizen Centric: The property tax system and its aggregate data can be accessed by citizens through this city website. Citizens will be able to search for their property record, check the details, see the property tax demand, collection and balance. Payment through credit card payment and ATM facilities are also envisaged, so that citizens can make payment from wherever they may be.

The Udupi property system will be operational around April of 2006. If you have inputs on how to make this system better please send your inputs to contact@egovernments.org