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Taxation

User charges on property tax assesses for garbage clearance

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The Hindu        14.10.2014 

User charges on property tax assesses for garbage clearance

Madurai Corporation is the latest urban local body to take up the idea

The Madurai Corporation is the latest urban local body to embrace the idea of levying user charges on certain sections of property tax assesses for garbage clearance.

Madurai is, however, not a solitary case. Some other urban local bodies have been levying the user charges.

Recently, Avadi has decided to introduce the levy, where the monthly charges vary from Rs. 200 to Rs. 2,000. An official points out that Sembakkam municipality is netting a monthly revenue of Rs. 3.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh.

Asked whether it is not part of the core functions of any local body to collect garbage, the officials reply that ideally, a local body should devote greater attention to the functions of disposal and treatment of waste than that of collection.

But, in reality, it is the other way round. Manpower shortage and increasing transportation cost are stretching the resources of the local bodies beyond the manageable level.

In Madurai, the quantity of waste was around 300 tonnes to 400 tonnes a day three years ago. After its limits have been enlarged, it is now around 700 tonnes to 800 tonnes.

The present daily generation of solid waste by 135 urban local bodies (other than Chennai) is about 7,300 tonnes. In Chennai, it is 5,000 tonnes. (A senior official of the Chennai Corporation says no such charge is made).

The focus of the present drive is on “bulk generators of waste” such as shopping complexes, hotels, restaurants and hospitals. Generally, domestic category of property tax assesses is not covered.

The levy can result in waste reduction too, the officials add.

N. Jegatheesan, president of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI), who terms the proposed charges of the Madurai Corporation unfair, says that if the local bodies focus on bulk generators, there will not be any problem.

An official responds that the move is only in the initial stages and the final decision will be taken only after holding a public hearing and taking an approval of the government.  

 

Proposed tax for garbage clearance draws flak

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The Hindu          07.10.2014 

Proposed tax for garbage clearance draws flak

Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has opposed the Madurai Corporation’s decision to levy service tax for garbage clearance.

In a press statement, N. Jegatheesan, president of the TNCCI, said a minimum of Rs.18,250 and maximum of Rs.1,82,500 had been fixed by the civic bodies for clearance of garbage every year. The tax to be imposed on lodges, hotels, marriage halls, hospitals, markets, showrooms, shopping complexes, cinema theatres, small-scale industries and commercial establishments was “ultra vires” and would force several establishments to close shutters, he stated. Mr. Jegatheesan said it was the bounden duty of the corporation to clear garbage and collection of special tax for the purpose was “unethical and untenable.” He requested the Mayor and the Corporation Commissioner to withdraw the levy.

 

 

Civic body goes on a tax collection drive

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The Hindu       25.09.2014 

Civic body goes on a tax collection drive

The Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has launched an intensive tax collection drive to mop up property and other tax dues from city residents.

The drive will continue till the end of this month, Corporation Commissioner V.P. Thandapani has said. Under the Tiruchirapalli Corporation Act, the residents have to pay their property tax dues within 15 days from the commencement of a half year and water charge every three months, he said in a release.

Taxes can be remitted at the corporation service centres at the K. Abishekapuram, Srirangam, Golden Rock, and Ariyamangalam zonal offices or at the computerised collection centres in the city.

All the service and tax collection centres of the corporation will function from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Mr. Thandapani appealed to the residents to pay their property, vacant site, and professional tax dues and the water and underground drainage charges before September 30 and avoid penal action.

 


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