The Hindu 01.04.2010
Tax collection target crossed
Staff Reporter
“Property tax collections were nearly Rs.364 crore and professional tax Rs.126 crore”
CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation collected a record Rs.490 crore property tax and professional tax in the fiscal that ended on Wednesday. In the process, it crossed its target of Rs.350 crore property tax and Rs.101 crore in professional tax.
Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said “Property tax collections were nearly Rs.364 crore and professional tax Rs.126 crore. We have exceeded our budget target. We estimated that our collections would touch Rs.450 crore. We did not expect such an increase in professional tax figures.”
In 2007 the amount of property tax collected was Rs.220 crore and professional tax Rs.60 crore.
“In three years we have increased this by Rs.210 crore without any changes in rates of the taxes,” he added.
Senior Corporation officials said that to enhance the professional tax base a total of 82,000 notices had been sent to commercial establishments and 10 lakh individual notices. “We asked them to pay professional taxes and register themselves with the civic body. Through this 1,842 companies and individuals have registered with us,” an official said.
Through the Integrated Voice Response Services, which was launched recently for property tax assessees Rs.1.5 lakh was collected, while the amount received through online payment was Rs.4 crore.
In 2008-09 Rs.323 crore was collected as property tax.
