The Hindu 17.08.2009
Corporation completes reassessment drive for tax collection
Aloysius Xavier Lopez
Notices issued to owners of 55,000 properties
Property tax collection this fiscal Rs.100 crore
CHENNAI: A commercial property on Nungambakkam High Road with an earlier property tax assessment of Rs.9.52 lakh is paying Rs.15 lakh now, after the reassessment drive of the Chennai Corporation.
Similarly, many properties in the city had been found under-assessed and the civic body had issued notices to owners of 55,000 properties that had not declared the correct area.
“The loss of property tax revenue has been decreasing with initiatives such as computerisation of the process of tax collection, reassessment by officials and simplification of the tax system,” said Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni.
The Revenue Department of the Corporation includes the area of thousands of buildings under deviation in the city for property tax assessment. However, the failure of residents to declare the exact area of the building has been one of the factors contributing to loss of revenue for the civic body, according to a Corporation official.
The reassessment process of the Corporation has been completed for all commercial and mixed residential properties in the city, said Mr. Lakhoni. The property tax collection this fiscal has been Rs.100 crore, of which arrears in the tax contributed Rs.63 crore. Online tax payment this fiscal has been Rs.77 lakh and the civic body is optimistic of improvement in the online payment in future.
“We are doing rigorous analysis of the computerised data on property tax for finding new ways of augmenting the property tax revenue,” said Mr. Lakhoni. The quick disposal of appeals on account of computerisation and the provision for instant checking by people has made it easier for collection of arrears by the civic body.
The categorisation of property tax payment and focussed intervention have made it easier for officials in reducing the loss of revenue. The Corporation has identified more than 8,000 properties with assessment of more than Rs.1 lakh. Around 300 properties in the city now have assessment of Rs.15 lakh and above. The civic body’s attention will be more on similar properties in future, according to officials.
