RAJSHEKER R NADGOUD Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A tax reform made, for levy, assessment and collection of property tax by the State Government by amending certain provisions of Definition Clause and chapter VI "municipal Taxation" of the karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, by karnataka Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2000 (Karnataka Act No. 28 of 2001) is the subject-matter of these batch of writ petitions.

(2.) THE amended provisions basically provide for tax base, tax rate, coverage and collection. The first two issues involve legal and policy issue and others are machinery and procedural provisions for collection of taxes.

(3.) THE valuation of the property for the assessment of property tax prior to the amendment of the Act was being done on the basis of the annual rent that the property would fetch from year to year and now the Legislative entry speaks of Taxable Capital Value. Taxable value is the sum at which the property is appraised for taxation. The expression capital value used in the Act is not however the cost of construction of building or its market value as a wealth. It is a working expression, which may roughly be said to be the taxable value of the building. One of the modes commonly employed for assessing the capital value of an asset is to assess its market value if that is determinable. By inserting Clause (27-A) in the amended Act, the Legislature authorises the local bodies to make valuation of building or lands or both in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Rules, 2002 for the purpose of assessment of property tax. The tax is levied every year on all buildings or lands or both situate within the municipal area, unless exempted under the act or any other law.