Punitive new tax to hammer second home owners in goa

Second home investors in Goa are about to be hammered by punitive new tax system that could add as much as $10,000 the annual cost of owning a home there.

In a measure which it says has been designed to “rationalise” real estate prices in the Southern Indian resorts of Goa, the local state government has decided to levy a hefty new occupancy tax on homes that have been purchased by non-Goans and left unoccupied.

The politicians are definitely targeting holiday homes owned by wealthy Indians from cities like Delhi. Foreigners are officially barred from buying property or land in India but many overseas property investors get around the rules by using local proxies to buy on their behalf.

"The idea is to impose tax of 200,000 to 500,000 rupees ($4,000 to $10,000 approx) per annum," chief minister Digambar Kamat told OPP this week. And “the tax would be levied with retrospective effect."

Source: OPP.org.uk