The Hindu                             14.02.2013

More trades under property tax net

Staff Reporter

In an effort aimed at increasing revenue the Coimbatore Corporation has widened its tax net. The move comes months ahead of the civic body’s Budget for 2013-14.

The resolution the Corporation Council passed on January 31 says that the Corporation has since April 1, 2000 166 trades under the Dangerous and Offensive Trade License, as per Resolution 325 of March 27, 2000.

Under the very resolution, the civic body has removed the entry against serial number 3, which is arrack production.

To the 166 trades the Corporation has decided to add 58 more.

This is based on recommendations from the Health Committee, which passed a resolution on May 30, 2012, and the Finance and Taxation Committee, which recommended the same through a resolution passed on August 13, 2012.

The Council has said that the Corporation will start collecting the D&O Trade License fee April 1, 2013 onwards.

Commissioner in-charge S. Sivarasu said that the civic body will start issuing demand notices to the practitioners of the 58 trades, based on which they will have to pay the licence fee to the civic body.

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The 58 trades the Corporation has brought under the license net are computer and computer spares sales centres, browsing centres, two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking spaces, footwear shops, fruits, fruit juices and cool drinks sales centres, duty-paid shops, department stores, coffee and tea powder outlets, mobile phone sales and service centres, utensils shops tiles, shops selling marbles, granite and other ceramic products, electrical wires and pipe sales centres, electrical outlets selling television boxes, iron and other goods, two-wheeler and four-wheeler showrooms, used vehicles sales centres, ice cream outlets, packaged mineral water outlets, paint shops, canteens in cinemas, shops selling plastics and toys made of plastics, sports goods shops, shops selling gym equipment, gyms, catering centres, coconut wholesale and retail outlets, flower shops, photocopying centres, private bars, TASMAC bars and plywood showrooms.

The civic body has also included shops selling puja items, hardware shops, electric motor and spares, fancy lights, wedding halls, furniture, iron rods used in construction, photo centres, spectacles, bicycles, wedding card houses, stationery shops, medical accessories, beauty products, sewing machines, button houses, travel tickets, travel agencies, pharmacies, pesticides, wrist watches, plastics and nylon products – retail and wholesale.

It has also added a few more to the list.

The Hindu                    13.02.2013

Municipality threatens to snap water connections of defaulters

Rs.15 crore due from residents and institutions under various heads in Karur.

Worried over mounting dues, the Karur Municipality has decided to get tough with tax defaulters in the civic body limits, holding out a threat to disconnect drinking water supply connections.

A recent meeting of chairman M.Selvaraj, commissioner (in charge) Gopalakrishnan, and other officials took stock of the tax dues in the municipality and noted that an estimated Rs.15 crore was due from its residents and institutions under various head such as profession tax, drinking water supply tax, property tax besides the non taxable outstanding that should be received by the civic body. During the recent council meetings some members had taken objection to the perceived lax attitude of the municipality in collecting revenue dues and had called for expeditious efforts to recover the dues from the defaulters and the special meeting followed those calls.

Pointing to the lackadaisical attitude of the defaulters in paying the municipality its dues, the meeting decided to toughen its stance.

Thereby, the meeting resolved unanimously to take stringent measures to convey the municipality’s strong disapproval by even resorting to disconnection of drinking water supply connection to defaulters.

The meeting also noted that with the expanded area covering 48 wards the Karur Municipality was striving to serve its population by improving drinking water supply and other basic amenities through implementing various development schemes.

In particular the scheme to provide drinking water supply to Thanthoni, Inam Karur and Karur regions not served by the Cauvery water supply schemes required funding to install and operate the schemes. If support through proper and timely payment of dues was not resorted to by the residents the civic body would be strained to extend the services.

Besides, the municipality was also pressing into operation generators to keep the motors in the pump rooms and lifting stations running to feed the water supply scheme beneficiary hamlets and localities. For that substantial amount was required as there were frequent power cuts. The civic body is hard pressed for resource mobilization and it was the duty of all residents to promptly pay the tax dues, the meeting observed.