(1) A tax (hereinafter referred to as the urban land tax) shall be levied by the State Government for every financial year commencing from the first day of April, 1976, upon the quantity of land occupied by any building owned by any person as well as the land appurtenant to such building in one or more urban agglomerations and collected from such person at such rates and in such manner as hereinafter provided.
(2) The urban land tax in so far as it relates to the land occupied by any building shall be levied at the following rates, namely:—
(i) in urban agglomeration of category A—at the rate of rupee one per annum per square metre;
(ii) in urban agglomeration of category B or C—at the rate of fifty paise per annum per square metre;
(iii) in urban agglomeration of category D—at the rate of thirty-five paise per annum per square metre:
Provided that no urban land tax shall be levied on such portion of the land occupied by the plinth area of any building, not being less than 300 square metres, as may be specified by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette and different portions of land occupied by the plinth area may be notified for this purpose for different urban agglomerations.
(3) The urban land tax, in so far as it relates to the land appurtenant to any building, shall be levied at half the rate specified in clause (i), (ii) or (iii) of sub-section (2):
Provied that no urban land tax shall be levied in respect of that much quantity of land which is required to be kept vacant under the provisions of the building regulations made under any law for the time being in force:
Provided further that the land required to be kept vacant under the first proviso shall in no case exceed 500 square metres.
(4) No urban land tax shall be levied upon any land until the construction of a building has been completed thereon or until the building is brought into use, whichever is earlier.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no urban land tax shall be levied and collected in respect of the land occupied by a building or the land appurtenant thereto in the building is used for carrying 63 of 1948. on any manufacturing process as defined in the Factories Act, 1948.
21 Urban Land tax.
The West Bengal Urban Land Taxation Act, 1976.
[West Ben. Act (Chapter 111.—Development charge and conversion charge.— Sections 5, 6.)
Explanation:—For the purposes of this Chapter, if any person holds any land under a lease for a period of ten years or more including its unexpired portion, such person shall be deemed to be the person who owns such land and the taxes leviable under this Chapter shall be collected only from such person.
CHAPTER III Development charge and conversion charge Development charge Conversion charge.