Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to amend the state's nearly five decade-old Building Tax Act, seeking to make tax collection more transparent and efficient.

A cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to give a nod to the Kerala Building Tax Rules (Amendment) Ordinance 2023, a CMO statement said.

The Act came into force nearly five decades ago, it said.

The one-time tax and the luxury tax of a building are calculated based on its floor area, and both of these are levied and collected by the state Revenue Department, it said.

At present, thousands of buildings, including commercial and non-commercial, are left without their taxes being assessed in the state.

The government has suffered a huge revenue loss due to these lapses in tax collection, the statement said, adding that the new amendment is envisaged to make the building tax collection more transparent and efficient.