Deccan Chronicle            06.01.2014

Intense drive against tax defaulters

Chennai: Both the Chennai metro water and Chennai corporation have intensif­ied their drive against water and property tax defaulters.

With the financial year coming to an end, area offices are now dispersing show cause notices to defaulters. Corp­or­a­t­ion tax collectors are now assessing the data related to tax payers, targeting those with arr­ears to pay.

If the arrears ran into several lakhs of rupees, warning boards would be put up on the property site. The corporation has estimated to collect around Rs 550 crore this year, a target for which a schedule has been drawn up. “We are working to­wards the target,” a corporation official said, adding that the civic bo­dy would also kickstart a campaign.

Announcements were also made recently thro­ugh auto rickshaws. Restaurants and hotels failing to pay their taxes on time could have their commercial licences ca­ncelled, another official said, adding that posh areas like Nungam­ba­kkam and Anna Salai, always had their share of  tax defaulters.

Meanwhile, metro wa­ter engineers have also started dispersing show cause notices, warning residents that the water supply would be cut if the water charges and tax were not paid on time.
Surcharge would be collected from those not paying the charges on time, and if the situation persisted, the water lines would be snapped at the households or co­m­mercial units of defa­u­lters, a metro water engineer said.

“Citizens can pay the fee at the nearby metro water depot and area offices. Counter staff have been advised to be friendly with tax payers to encourage th­em to come forward and pay up before the deadline,” the engineer added.