The Hindu 31.03.2013
Young blood spurs jump in property tax collection
Aloysius Xavier Lopez
On Sunday, when the deadline for payment of property tax
ends, the Chennai Corporation would have collected over Rs. 450 crore.
This will be the highest annual collection of property tax ever.
The
civic body had collected Rs. 436 crore as property tax on the
penultimate day. The highest collection achieved so far by the civic
body is Rs. 376 crore.
The appointment of a young
batch of Assistant Revenue Officers for field-level collection has
contributed to the increase. Most of the senior AROs retired last year.
The efforts of the Chennai Corporation to employ town criers for
creation of awareness and announcement using autorickshaws at the zonal
level were other factors.
Up until the end of
February, the civic body had collected only Rs. 351 crore. However, the
collection improved in March. The civic body identified over 14,000
assessees who pay a tax of more than Rs.50,000 and focussed on them.
The
contribution of the over 250 tax collectors was significant as other
modes such as online and bank counters have not been popular this year.
Of the 10.71 lakh assessees, only a few thousands of non-resident
Indians, who own properties in the city, used the online facility.
The
increase in property tax collection is likely to be higher next year as
the Chennai Corporation Council, a few months ago, passed a resolution
to increase the property tax for buildings housing IT companies. The
increase in the tax rates range from 50 to 200 per cent. The hike has
not been implemented so far.
The decision of the
Corporation may lead to IT buildings becoming a new category similar to
hospitals, star hotels, lodging houses, cinema theatres and marriage
halls.
