The Greater Chennai Corporation will have a uniform system of
property tax calculation, changing the existing anomalies caused by
different methods of calculation in erstwhile municipalities, town
panchayats and panchayats that were merged in 2009.

The Chennai
Corporation on Thursday held the first meeting for revising the
different property tax rates and procedure in calculation of tax being
followed in different neighbourhoods of the city.

Officials said a
number of complaints had been received from residents in added areas,
claiming that property tax rates were high in developing areas when
compared with developed parts of the city.

Residents in some
neighbourhoods in the recently-added areas, such as Ambattur, have
complained that they were paying more property tax than those in
well-developed areas such as T. Nagar that fetch higher rental values,
officials said.

Therefore, the civic body has formed a committee
of officials to develop a uniform system for calculation of property tax
in the entire city. “The general revision of property tax was carried
out in 1998 in the old city limits. But the erstwhile local bodies that
were merged in 2009 revised the property tax in 2008. This has led to an
anomaly,” said an official.

As
per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920
and Tamil Nadu Village Panchayat Act, 1994, the property tax basic rates
and the calculation procedure have been fixed by the respective
councils of the local bodies that were merged in 2009.

Different method

Ambattur
and Thiruvottiyur zones use a different method of calculation of
property tax, when compared with the old city zones such as Teynampet,
Adyar, Royapuram, Tondiarpet, Thiru-Vi.Ka Nagar, Kodambakkam and Anna
Nagar.

But multiple methods of calculation is adopted within zones
such as Manali, Madhavaram, Valasaravakkam, Perungudi, Alandur and
Sholinganallur, creating confusion among residents who have constructed
houses or commercial buildings in such areas after 2011.

The
Corporation has streetwise basic rates for property tax with discount
for owners who occupy their buildings. As the discount is not available
for other residents in the merged areas, they have been protesting, said
officials. The committee will soon suggest a basic rate for the city,
rationalise the tax, following a uniform method of calculation of
property tax for the entire 426 sq km of the city.