THE REVENUE SOURCES OF AIZAWL MUNICIPAL CORPORATION: TAX AND NON-TAX

Abstract

Municipal corporations generate revenue from various sources to fund their operations and provide services to residents. Municipal revenue sources are broadly divided into - Tax and Non-tax revenue. Tax revenue includes property taxes, which is the collected from property owners, based on the assessed value of their properties. Non-tax sources of municipal revenue typically refer to revenue streams that local governments collect apart from taxes, such as, use fees and charges, licences and permits, fees and penalties, grants and find transfers, investment income, etc. Like other municipalities in India, especially, smaller municipalities, Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) is heavily dependent on fund transfers from higher governments such as, the central and state governments. This is basically due to the limited revenue sources available to the Corporation. The AMC received funds primarily, through state tax devolution from the state government as recommended by State Finance Commission. The revenue resources of Aizawl Municipal Corporation include Own Revenues, consisting of Tax Revenues (of which the property tax is a major source) and Non-Tax Revenues such as funds for local bodies, grants and devolution by the State Government, Grants from the Central Government and Finance Commissions and other receipts. Data shows that the contribution of own source revenue is very small, less than one-third of total revenue expenditure in 8 of the last 12 years. The financial resources of the Aizawl Municipal Corporation play a critical role as engines for the growth of local bodies in the state. KEYWORDS: Revenue sources of municipalities, Tax and non-tax revenue of municipal corporations, AMC