Thane Municipal Corporation

While presenting the annual budget of the civic body to the Standing Committee, The Municipal commissioner of Thane Sanjeev Jaiswal has proposed a hike of 10% in property taxes, both residential and commercial.

The Rs 2549.82 crore budget for 2016-17 already includes Rs 230.10 crore surplus carried forward from the previous year.  Jaiswal said there has not been any increase in the property tax since long, adding that “If this hike is approved, it will help the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to earn additional Rs 31 crore. The hike in the property tax is proposed from current 26 to 36 per cent for residential purpose to 48.50 per cent for non-residential purpose from the present 38.50 per cent.

In The meeting chaired by TMC standing committee chairman Naresh Mhaske, it was communicated that the civic body is expected to garner Rs 700 crore from Local Body Tax, Rs 456 crore from property tax, fees, and government taxes, Rs 515 crore from development fees, Rs 150 crore from water cess, Rs 180 crore from grants from Maharashtra and Union governments.

Bill Gates’ $150 million mansion

Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and with a fortune of $79.2 billion, he ought to have a house which is magnificence personified! Situated in Medina, Washington, the glorious estate took almost 7 years to be built and of course, a whole lot of money!

What is noteworthy about Bill Gates’ house is that while he has spent on the latest and the greatest luxuries, it is also as eco-friendly and green as possible. Here’s a stock of all you need to know about Gates’ impressive mansion.

‘Xanadu 2.0′, is the name of the sprawling home that derives from the fictional home of the title character of ‘Citizen Kane’.

Bill bought the plot in 1988 for $2 million and as of this year, the house is estimated to be worth $154,286,409.

Xanadu 2.0 spreads over 66,000-square-foot and rakes up around $1 million in property taxes each year.

The sand on the lakefront shore of Gates’ beach is imported from the Caribbean. The mansion is an ‘Earth sheltered’ house that uses its natural surroundings to reduce heat loss.

There’s an opulent 60-foot swimming pool on the premises with its own underwater music system. There’s also an artificial stream running through parts of the house complete with various kinds of fish. Bill’s gigantic library contains a Leonardo Da Vinci manuscript that cost him $30 million.

There are 24 bathrooms in the house and 6 kitchens spread around different parts of the house. All the floors are heated. The garages in the mansion can hold up to 23 cars.

The premises has a little home theatre with a seating capacity of 20 people with a popcorn machine installed. Besides regular exercise facilities, there’s also a mammoth trampoline room with a 20-foot high ceiling.

The prolific 2300-square-foot reception hall can hold up to 200 guests. Guests are given a pin which they can use to control the temperature and lighting all over the house.

Once, A Microsoft employee had bid $35,000 just to travel around Bill Gates’ splendorous mansion!