The Hindu 01.04.2010
Property tax collection touches Rs. 5-cr mark
Staff Reporter
GUNTUR: Notwithstanding the last-minute surge of people to pay the property tax arrears on Wednesday, officers of the revenue section of Guntur Municipal Corporation are set to smile all the way to banks on Thursday.
There has been an unprecedented rush to pay the tax arrears on Wednesday, the last date of the financial year. Revenue officials said that tax collection touched Rs.1.70 crores at about 9 p.m. and this was expected to go up to Rs.2 crores on Wednesday alone.
Ever since the State Government passed GO Ms No 139 on March 27, waiving interest on tax arrears, people had been flocking to the cash counters to pay the arrears. The `offer' was limited to five days including Sunday, but the tax collection crossed Rs.5 crore mark.
The GMC kept all the seven counters at the Citizen Charter on its premises open at Lalapet and the two counters at the circle office in Brindavan Gardens till 12 midnight.
Deputy Commissioner Lakshminarayana said that as against tax arrears of Rs.24 crore, the GMC was able to garner more than Rs.5 crore in the week alone.
The penal interest for the financial year 2008-2009 amounted to Rs.16.67 crores, while the interest on current fiscal up to March 27 was Rs.73 lakhs. The property tax arrears were Rs.12.79 crores and Rs.7.66 crores for the year 2009 and 2010 respectively.
But the revenue officials were also a bit apprehensive about tax collections in future as they feel that interest waivers at the end of financial year might actually act as deterrent for regular tax payers. In the present times of financial crisis, Municipal Corporations could little afford to lose penal interest, one official opined.
