Publication

Abstract : This study of the residential property tax in Calcutta confirms that the tax is inequitous. Further, the conditions in the housing market are conducive to the shifting of the tax to the consumers of housing. Estimates of the elasticity of housing services with respect to income suggests that the residential property taxes posses built-in regressivity. The tax in Calcutta is much more than what the income-rent relationship suggest. It is only through the tax rate and efficient administration that the regressivity reduced or the progressivity introduced. For the tax to be fair and to be closely related to the services that support, the assessment disparities should be minimized and tax rates should be so structured as to generate tax demands according to the ability to pay.