The Hindu 09.01.2010

Creating awareness among tax defaulters

Staff Correspondent

MYSORE: Officials of zone 9 of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), as part of a drive, conducting doing door-to-door visits in 10 municipal wards to urge property owners to pay their tax dues immediately and help the corporation to take up development works.

The Property Tax Awareness Drive, launched on Friday, will continue for the next 10 days.

During the visits, corporation officials are serving notices on tax defaulters and asking them to pay the dues before a final notice is issued to them. The first phase of the drive was launched in Ward no. 63 in Siddhartha Layout. Assistant Commissioner of zone 9 Mahesh, councillor Mahadevamma and other MCC officers were present.

Mr. Mahesh told The Hindu that property tax to the tune of Rs. 2.5 crore was due in zone 9. “Besides serving notices on tax defaulters, pamphlets highlighting works taken up by the corporation using the revenue generated by way of property tax are being distributed,” he said. He said that 800 notices had been served on tax defaulters, and all wards would be covered in the next 10 days.

The Hindu 09.01.2010

50,000 properties in city to be brought under tax net

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Taking stock: The Third State Finance Commission Recommendation Implementation Task Force, led by its Chairman A.G. Kodgi (second from left), reviewing the financial position of local bodies in Mysore on Friday.

MYSORE: More than 50,000 properties will be brought under the property tax net by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) to augment revenue realisation.

This follows a review of the financial position of local bodies by the Third State Finance Commission Recommendation Implementation Task Force, led by its Chairman A.G. Kodgi, here on Friday.

The task force appraised itself of the tax collection details and learnt much to its chagrin that of the nearly 1.88 lakh properties registered in the city, over 50,000 properties had remained outside the purview of the property tax net.

When questioned by the task force members, revenue officials cited legislation to justify their stance that properties that had come up on revenue site could not be taxed by the city corporation. However, the task force members were not impressed by this and cited legislation that provided for bringing such properties under the tax net.

The MCC authorities drew flak for their failure to mop up resources and meet the revenue collection target. As against the target of Rs. 134.91 crore, the MCC had collected revenue of only Rs. 52.32 crore so far during the current financial year.

The officials were asked to plug leaks and ensure that property owners did not provide false details to reduce the tax burden. They were directed to conduct random and surprise inspections to check the authenticity of the declaration made by property owners under the Self Assessment Scheme (SAS).

The members noted that it was the influential section of society which was not prompt in paying taxes.

The MCC authorities should pull their socks up if they were to generate adequate revenue to fund infrastructure projects or provide basic civic amenities to the public, the members said.

Arrears pertaining to water tax was said to be Rs. 61.95 crore, including principal amount and interest on the principal amount. The corporation officials told the task force members that there were nearly 13,000 illegal water connections in the city.

The task force members also reviewed the financial position of town municipalities of various taluks. Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan and Mayor Purushottam were among those present.