The Hindu       22.03.2011

Civic body serves notices on property tax defaulters

Tax-payers want revision petitions disposed of first

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has served attachment notices on about 600 persons for non-payment of property tax for a long time, according to Municipal Commissioner V.N. Vishnu.

The collection so far has been Rs.51.7 crors. The total demand from about 3.2 lakh assesses is Rs.136 crore. The last date for payment of property tax in this financial year is March 31. The collection has been sluggish this year so far with a steep hike in the tax and tax-payers hoping for a rollback. Tax-payers' fora have also been alleging that the revision petitions filed are not disposed of following the due process.

Civic officials said a list of defaulters had been prepared on the basic of which the notices were issued.

Condemning the “coercive and strong arm” tactics of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation for forcing payment of property tax, Visakha Tax Payers' Association has demanded that the revision petitions filed be disposed of first.

Secretary of the newly-formed association O. Srinivas recalled that the Municipal Commissioner and the Mayor themselves had stated that the property tax need not be paid until the revision petitions were disposed of. Now forcing payment was unfair and against principles of natural justice, Mr. Srinivas said in a statement adding the tax-payers were being coerced to pay the enhanced tax or face seizure proceedings.

GVMC at best could ask those who had applied for revision to pay the tax at previous rates while reserving the right to collect the balance, if any, payable on disposal of revision petitions, Mr. Srinivas said.

The association alleged the revision petitions were being disposed of in a mechanical manner without answering the issues raised in the petition but harping on measurement which, it contended, was not an issue for old buildings.

Questions like taxing similar buildings differently in the same locality and not distinguishing between self-occupied and rented buildings were left unanswered, he said.

The association demanded that GVMC should desist from coercive methods but follow due process of law lest the matter should be taken to appropriate forum to seek justice. The Commissioner told reporters who met him on Monday that an awareness meeting would be held with the associations concerned to ban use of plastic carry bags below 20 microns thickness. Priority will be given to the Beach Road area for implementing the ban.

Dog menace

On the menace of street dogs, he said anti-rabies vaccination should be taken up after identifying areas where the dog population was more. Survey on street dogs would be taken in the next few days and completed by the end of April.

On the proposal of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman that a beach park be developed at Lawson's Bay Colony, a project report had been prepared by the Planning wing and sent to the Engineering Department for preparing estimates.

Mr.Vishnus said a proposal for a new market at Malkapuram would be taken up after the corporation general body approval and giving site in lieu of its site to the port trust at Mudasarlova.

The Hindu        18.03.2011

Kochi Corporation pondering tax rebate for IPL matches

The Kochi Corporation on March 21 will decide on the question of allowing entertainment tax rebate for the matches to be played in Kochi during the India Premier League (IPL) cricket series.

The Corporation Council meeting scheduled for the day will decide on the subject by including it in the regular business agenda of the civic body, said Tony Chammany, Kochi Mayor.

The owners of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala earlier had requested full waiver of the entertainment tax on gate collection.

However, this proposal was opposed by one of the councillors.

Vivek Venugopal, co-owner of the team, had earlier said they were requesting the Kochi Corporation to give a 100 per cent waiver on the entertainment tax and stated that several other cities had given the exemption during the first three years of the sporting event.

Councillor's opposition

The team owners had won the bid for Kochi for around Rs. 1,500 crore a few months ago.

An all-party meeting convened by the Kochi Corporation to discuss the issue had recommended to the civic authorities to give 50 per cent discount on the entertainment tax on gate collection. The civic authorities had placed the suggestion before the council after including it in the supplementary agenda. When the issue came up for discussion, N. Venugopal, a Congress councillor, argued that the team should not be given any discount considering the financial crisis of the civic body.

The civic authorities were forced to postpone the decision following his opposition as the supplementary agenda could only be passed unanimously.

It was after gauging the sentiments of the civic society and the business community of the city that the Corporation decided to allow the rebate.

According to the rule, 48 per cent of the gate collection can be charged as entertainment tax. In this case, the organisers are expecting around Rs. 3 crore as gate collection and five matches will be played here. The all-party meeting and the Steering Committee of the Corporation have cleared the proposal for tax rebate, said Mr. Chammany.

The Corporation need not provide any facility for the event and can get a considerable amount as tax. Moreover, holding the event in the city will bring business to the city as a whole. The Kochi Corporation is of the view that the city should not lose the event on a dispute over the tax rebate, he said.